Black Smoke and Revelations
by SaliHall
Summary: Rory and Dean don't just fall asleep in Miss Patty's. Later, when their memories of what happened that night return, they call in some professionals to help find the answers. AU for Gilmore Girls starting mid first season; pre-series Supernatural.
1. Prologue

**DECEMBER 2000**

_They hovered out of sight of the two young people walking down the street. They watched when the kids stopped and turned into the dance studio - the one they had opened as a trap. Unseen, they moved closer and saw the boy and girl sit down and start talking._

"_They're perfect" said one. "It's just like he said, the boy looks just like the other one."_

"_I agree." said the other, "They're young, they may even be virgins."_

"_Ooohhhh, I hope so!"_

Quietly and unseen, they flowed over to the boy and girl, and then quickly, they moved in. The black smoke flowed powerfully into their mouths.

Rory and Dean screamed as they were overcome. Then the screaming stopped and they stood up. They looked at each other and for a moment, their eyes were completely black and then they cleared.

"She _is_ a virgin" said the demon possessing Rory.

"He is, too. He is fighting me, but I have a good hold on him." The demon possessing Dean smiled. "He knows what I'm gonna do!"

She smiled widely. "This is gonna be fun. Do you think our boss will be pleased?"

"I know he will be." He pulled Rory's body toward him. Grinning, he moved her over to the cushions and lowered her to them, then he came down over her. "Maybe we'll even get a promotion."

**AN: As you can tell, this one is dark. The title, which I had a heckuva time with, is from Muse's "Black Holes and Revelations".**


	2. Chapter 1

**TWO MONTHS LATER**

"Mom?" Rory came out of the bathroom with tears in her eyes. "I think something's wrong."

Lorelai looked up at her daughter. Ever since the day Rory had come running home from Miss Patty's after falling asleep at the dance studio, she had been watching her normally talkative, fun and happy daughter withdraw into herself more and more. Rory's grades had fallen and she avoided all contact with most people. She was on the verge of being asked to leave Chilton. She only talked to Lane, Dean and Lorelai herself, but she wouldn't talk about that night at all. She only said that she couldn't remember anything. That's all Dean ever said, too.

If she didn't know better, she would think Rory had been raped.

She knew Dean would never do that, though. Not in a million years.

"What is it?" The ball of fear in Lorelai's gut was clenching and her concern was mounting. This would not be good.

"I… my period is late. I haven't had a period for two months!" Rory started to cry. "Why can't I remember that night?"

Lorelai stood there in shock for a moment, but then gathered her daughter in her arms and held her while she sobbed. She walked Rory into the living room and waited for her tears to slow down and then held her while she tried to calm down. This had been the pattern for the last two months. Rory would fall into tears over the smallest trigger, or any trigger for that matter, and would sob her heart out in her mother's arms. Every time, Lorelai would wait for Rory to calm down and ask her once again if she remembered anything. Every time, Rory would get panicky and say 'nothing' and then get up and walk away.

This time was different. Because this time there was proof something **had** happened. Instead of avoiding the question, Rory knew she had to try to remember something. She stayed in her mother's arms and closed her eyes. She began by trying to reconstruct the night:

She remembered the evening of the dance, the dress her mother had made and the tacos she had eaten. She remembered her grandmother coming to see her off and forcing her to wait for Dean to come to the door rather than going on out to the car. She remembered Emily had taken a picture of them before they left and of course, she remembered the dance. After the dance, they had stopped for coffee and decided to walk around Stars Hollow for a bit. They paused in front of Miss Patty's dance studio when they saw that it hadn't been closed properly. She remembered them going into the studio and looking at the pictures of Miss Patty and then she and Dean had sat down and started talking. Then, for the first time, she remembered black smoke. As she sat there and tried to remember more, her breathing became harsh. She had never tried to remember being at Miss Patty's before. Perhaps she knew she wouldn't like knowing what happened.

As her daughter tried to remember, Lorelai waited. She was fighting tears, but there would be time enough later for that. Meanwhile, she waited; this was the first time Rory was willing to try to bring the memories back. Finally, Rory started to talk.

"I remember the dance and walking home and going into Miss Patty's studio. It had been left open. Dean and I were sitting there talking and I saw something out of the corner of my eye. There was black smoke hovering in the air. Next thing I remember Miss Patty was waking us up and a group of people were standing over us. We were completely dressed. It was just as if we fell asleep."

"Black smoke?" Lorelai looked at her daughter, "Miss Patty smokes like a chimney, is that what you saw? Or maybe there was a fire somewhere?"

Rory was shaking her head. "No, it wasn't like that. It's almost like it was an organized, directed smoke; it roiled." Rory got up from the couch. She knew her mother wouldn't believe her.

Lorelai looked at her daughter. "What do you mean 'it roiled'? What? Are you saying it moved without wind? Smoke?"

Rory nodded.

"Smoke has no direction. It goes where the air currents direct it." Lorelai got up from the couch. "You had to have been hallucinating."

Rory turned away from her mother. "I don't think so."

"Yeah, well, I wanna talk to Dean. It sounds a lot like you were slipped some drugs."

Rory turned away. Her heart was breaking. If she was pregnant, then it was the end of all her dreams. Harvard would be forever beyond her reach. She was 16 and she knew that Emily and Richard would take it all out on her mother. She remembered the argument her mother and grandmother had had the morning after the dance.

Rory moved slowly to the phone in the hall and picked it up to call Dean. She spoke quietly, asking him to come over. She needed to tell him something. Then she turned toward her mother.

"Can you get a pregnancy test?"

Lorelai nodded. "I'll go out of town for it. Do you want me here while you talk to Dean?

"No, I don't want him to think… Do you blame him?"

"No, honey, I don't. You said he doesn't remember anything either, so whatever happened probably happened to both of you." Lorelai tucked a strand of hair behind Rory's ear. "Whatever the results, we stick together; it's you and me against the world, kid." She tried to smile, but the tears were too close. "And maybe baby makes three."

Dean hung up the phone and he turned to his father with an agonized look on his face. Immediately, his father pulled him into a hug. Dean clung to him for a moment. He was afraid of what Rory was going to tell him. He didn't remember very much, but he would get flashes of images every once in a while.

As they separated, Dean said, "She needs to tell me something."

With a concerned look, his father asked, "Do you want us to go with you?"

Dean shook his head. "No, I'll call you if I need you though."

When he told his parents that he couldn't remember what happened, they took him to a doctor. There were no drugs in his blood, urine or hair follicles. Most psychoactive drugs are easily detected, but there are some that aren't. He had told his parents everything he could remember and they had taken him to a counselor. The doctor was using hypnotherapy to try to get the memories out of Dean's head.

He left the room to get dressed and there were tears in his eyes because, from the flashes that he remembered, he was afraid he had attacked her. No way would she have cooperated with that.

When Dean arrived at the Gilmore house, Rory met him at the door. She hugged him and then led him into the living room.

Rory moved over to the couch and sat down. She put a throw pillow in her lap and pulled her legs up onto the couch. Dean sat down beside her and just looked at her, waiting.

Rory's voice was low as she started to speak. "I haven't had a period for two months now. Mom is going to a drug store out of town to get a pregnancy test." Her eyes filled with tears and she bent her head over the pillow she was holding.

Dean's face scrunched up and tears came to his eyes. He nodded, but for a moment, he couldn't speak. Then he cleared his throat and said, "Rory, I have flashes of memory… did I attack you?"

She didn't look up at him. "I don't know, but I don't think so. There were no signs of a struggle. I didn't have any bruises or cuts; neither did you. If you had attacked me, I would have fought. Anyway, my dress was wrinkled, but I had slept in it. My, uh, underwear and stockings were intact. If I am pregnant, then we had sex, but I must have agreed. There were no signs of force."

"Did you go to a doctor?"

She didn't look at him. "No, mom was mad and told me I was going on the pill, but I refused. I didn't think anything had happened. I really thought we just fell asleep. That morning, I took a shower and then I went back to bed." She smiled wryly. "That will probably go down as the biggest mistake of my life."

"My parents took me to a doctor on that Monday. They insisted when I told them I couldn't remember anything. I was tested and there were no signs of drugs in my body. Then they took me to a psychiatrist."

Rory looked up in surprise, "I didn't know you were seeing a doctor! Why didn't you tell me?"

"Shame… fear… Rory, I'm starting to remember some stuff. Just flashes really, which makes me think I attacked you; even if you didn't fight me."

"I remembered something, too."

Dean looked at her.

"Do you remember the smoke?"

"Smoke?"

"Uh huh… I remembered black smoke – this morning. I think it attacked us."

"How can black smoke attack us?"

"I don't know, but that's what I remember."

"That doesn't make sense."

"I know"

"Would you be willing to see my doctor? Maybe he can help you unlock your memories. I don't remember any smoke, but he said that if we went together we could maybe help each other remember more."

Rory nodded. "Yeah, I think it may be time to try for more memories. I haven't really wanted to. When I think about Miss Patty's studio I get scared. I haven't been back in the building since then, have you?"

He shook his head. "No, I get panicky. The doctor says that something traumatic must have happened. It's a natural reaction."

She nodded, grateful that there was someone else who understood. Her eyes filled with tears and she put her head on the pillow she was clutching once again.

"Rory" Dean's voice was rough with emotion. "What can I do? What do you need?"

"I'm really tired. I haven't been sleeping much."

Dean took the pillow from her and leaned her toward him. Then he tucked the pillow behind her and urged her forward on the couch. He lay down on his side behind her and she lay down in front of him as he spooned her. "Try and sleep. I'm right here." She grabbed his hand and pulled it forward over her. She then closed her eyes and fell into an exhausted slumber.

When Lorelai came back an hour later, she found Rory and Dean asleep on the couch. She put the package in the bathroom and went upstairs. She closed the door to her bedroom and started to cry. She needed to get it out of her system so she could be strong for her daughter.

After another hour, she called Dean's parents and asked them to come over. She didn't go into details, but the tone of her voice came through and they were there in just a couple of minutes. Lorelai let them in and they saw Dean and Rory asleep. Lorelai moved over behind the couch and touched Dean's shoulder. She moved around to the front of the couch and crouched down in front of the kids. Then she carefully woke up Rory.

"The package is in the bathroom." She was looking at Rory. "Do you need me to help?"

The ever present tears were in Rory's eyes as she shook her head. She looked around and saw Dean's parents in the room. She looked again at her mother with a question on her face.

"They have the right to be here, too."

Rory nodded and got up off the couch. Dean got up and moved with her into the hall. He looked at his mom and dad as he passed them. Suddenly his mother guessed what was happening and she started to cry. Lorelai moved over toward the couple and she put her arms around her.

"Barbara, it's not the end of the world. It's just a hard left." Dean's father was devastated. He looked at Lorelai.

"Was it…?" He couldn't complete the question out loud.

Lorelai shook her head. "I no more think Dean's a rapist now than I did that morning." She pulled Barbara over to the couch and they sat down. "The way they've both been acting... whatever happened that night, it happened to both of them. I think they must have been slipped something…"

Rory and Dean read the instructions together and then Rory went into the bathroom. Dean moved to stand across the hall from the door and leaned against the wall, waiting. After a couple of minutes, Rory came out and moved into the kitchen. Because of her agitation and nerves, she couldn't figure out the timer on the microwave, so Dean set it for her. Then they moved into Rory's bedroom. They didn't speak, but just sat on Rory's bed and waited for the timer to go off. In the living room, the adults were also silent while they waited for the results.

After a long, long five minute wait, the timer buzzed and Rory got up and moved to the bathroom where she had left the test. Dean followed. Rory reached for the box which showed the examples of the two results and then slowly picked up the test wand.

With Dean standing behind her, they both saw the results at the same time. Rory dropped the wand on the floor and turned into Dean's chest. She was crying so hard she could hardly breathe. Dean held her while tears of his own flowed down his face.

It was positive.


	3. Chapter 2

In the living room, the adults listened to the timer on the microwave go off, they heard Rory and Dean move into the bathroom and seconds later they heard their children's hearts break.

Lorelai got up from the couch and moved slowly over to the little hall. She watched Rory sob against Dean's chest and waited for the tears to slow. After a few minutes, Dean and Rory came out of the bathroom and moved toward her. Rory was walking slowly and Lorelai watched her face go even more pale than it had been.

"Dean!"

Rory collapsed and Dean caught her as she fell. He then swept her up and carried her the rest of the way into the living room. His mother got up from the couch and Dean laid her down where she had been lying before.

Lorelai came up behind him and placed a washcloth over Rory's forehead. The cool cloth revived her and she opened her eyes.

"I'm pregnant."

Lorelai nodded, there were tears in her eyes.

"Something attacked us."

Lorelai nodded again.

"Were Dean and I sexually assaulted?"

Lorelai nodded once again. "Yes, I think you could call it that."

"We…something happened and now I'm pregnant."

"What do you mean 'something'?"

"Something attacked us." Rory repeated. "There was black smoke."

"Rory, honey, I think you hallucinated that. You were probably drugged."

"Dean wasn't drugged."

"What?" Lorelai looked at Dean. "What does she mean?"

"I was tested the Monday after we woke up in the dance studio. Because I couldn't remember what happened; Mom and Dad insisted."

"I should have done that." Lorelai looked at her daughter. "You should have gone to the doctor as soon as possible."

"That was part of the argument we had. Remember? I was insisting that nothing had happened and that you needed to trust me. She turned away from her mom, "My mistake; turns out you shouldn't trust me."

"Rory, honey, you can't blame yourself. You had to have been drugged, you don't remember, you couldn't have known!"

Barbara tapped her hand on Lorelai's shoulder. "I need to talk to your daughter."

Something in Barbara's face told Lorelai to let her have her say.

Barbara sat down on the table in front of the couch and took Rory's hand; she reached over and took her son's hand as well. "About 25 years ago, before I met Dean's dad, I was at college. It was a large college in a major city." She gave a short laugh. "Ohio State, actually." Barbara took a deep breath. "I was walking back to my dorm room from visiting friends in an apartment only a couple of blocks away. Two. Blocks. I was attacked from behind and the man dragged me behind some bushes. It took several months to get it out of my head that none of it was my fault. I understand you're pretty smart. Don't take that long." She smiled gently at Rory.

Barbara then looked at Dean; she had told her husband what had happened, but never thought she would have to tell her son. "I would give anything to take this pain from you. I know what it's like to have all of your choices taken from you. I left school and my mom insisted I go to therapy." She looked at Dean, "That's why I insisted for you. I was afraid something happened that took all of _your_ choices away."

She took a deep breath, "This is a rough road for you both. Whether it was drugs or whatever; you have to walk it. We'll be right there with you. Please remember, I understand everything you are going through. If you need to talk, please come see me, both of you."

Lorelai was standing there, pain for the other woman evident in her eyes. "We need to call the police."

Rory sat up quickly, "No!"

Lorelai moved over to her daughter and gripped her shoulders. "Rory! Somehow you've been attacked! We need to call the police."

"No! Dean wasn't drugged and the police will find that out. It's part of his medical records! If we involve the police without any proof that we were drugged, everyone, maybe not the police, but everyone _else_ will assume Dean did it! You know how this town works!

"Meanwhile, the other obvious suspects will be Tristan and Paris. I won't have them accused of something when _I know_ they didn't do it!

"Besides," she whispered, "I don't want the attention."

"How do you know they didn't?" Dean's father asked. Dean had told his parents about Tristan's attempt to start a fight at the dance.

"I don't know. I just do." Rory was rubbing her forehead, as if she had a headache. Rory looked at Dean. "I wanna meet your doctor. I absolutely know that whatever happened you aren't to blame, but neither are Tristan and Paris."

"Tristan is a dick and Paris is a bitch." Dean argued.

"But Tristan _isn't_ a monster and Paris would want to win on her terms; she'd want to watch and gloat while I went down."

Dean's dad came up and placed his hand on his son's shoulder. "I'll call the doctor for you and we'll set up an appointment." He smiled at her, "Meanwhile, we all have to talk about this and start making plans." He looked at his wife, "Its lunchtime. Do we have anything in the house?" He intended to invite everyone over to their house.

Barbara gave a brittle laugh. "Trust Randy to think about his stomach." She reached up and took her husband's hand so he would know she was joking. He squeezed her hand and smiled gently at her. Before Barbara could answer his question, Lorelai told them she would set up a small meeting room at the inn.

An hour later, they all met at the Independence Inn where Sookie was working a Saturday lunch shift. They were directed to a small room where they could have privacy. They ate and talked of nothing in particular while Dean and Rory sat and watched their parents. Dean barely touched his food, but Rory ate better than she had for weeks.

The adults waited until the server left the room and began to discuss what Rory had said. The Foresters were definitely against having the police involved despite the fact that their son had been drugged. They agreed with Rory that the occupants of this town would blame their son. Lorelai reluctantly agreed; if money wasn't so tight, she would have suggested a private investigator. Despite their accord, nothing was really agreed upon, though. Their minds were too filled with sadness to really have any ideas. They agreed that they couldn't make any decisions then and that they would need to meet again when their emotions had settled.

Finally, Rory looked at her mother and said "Mom, can you get Sookie to come in? We need to tell her." She looked at Dean. "Is that okay?" She then looked at Dean's parents "Sookie is mom's best friend and she's gonna need a friend to talk to."

Dean nodded his head, quietly he said, "It's fine."

Rory took his hand and looked around at the others. "But we have to agree on the story. No matter what happened. This is a small town. People will automatically blame Dean, so we have to make it clear he was a victim, too."

Dean winced. No matter that he wasn't to blame; he didn't want to be known as a victim, either.

Randall put his hand on Dean's shoulder and when Dean looked at him, he said, "Telling people you were drugged and did something under the influence doesn't make you less of a man. It's how you act going forward. So far, I haven't seen you do anything that would make me ashamed of you."

Dean just nodded. He was grateful his parents were being so cool. He was about to make them grandparents and they weren't shouting blame.

As Lorelai got up to fetch Sookie, Rory rose from her seat as well, "Mom, you and the Foresters have been great today. Dean and I…" she looked at Dean who nodded, "We really appreciate it. But I wanna leave; I don't particularly want to be here when you tell her. Is that okay?"

"It's fine honey, if you and Dean want to leave. We'll make sure Dean isn't blamed." She took her daughter's hand. "You know the news will fly around town before the day is over though, don't you?"

Rory nodded. "I know. That's why I want to maybe take a walk; before the staring and whispers start."

She left the room and Dean followed behind her.

As they left the Inn, Dean took her hand again. He needed the reassurance of her as much as she needed him. He waited until they were in the car, before he spoke. "For the rest of our lives, you and I are linked. We are always going to have a connection through this baby. But, we're only 16 and I am not going to ask you to marry me. That would be just another mistake for us to make." He looked at her. "Do you understand?"

Rory nodded. "My mom refused to marry my dad because he was too immature. And she knew it would be a big mistake, too. I think she did all right. I think _we'll_ be alright, too. Besides, we'll have something she didn't have."

"What?"

"Parents who support us."

Dean nodded. "What's going to happen when you tell your grandparents?"

"I don't know. I think it'll be epic, though. That morning, when I came in, Emily was there. She and mom had had a huge fight. It was weeks before they were civil. That's why I wanted to tell Sookie as soon as possible. Mom is about to loose her parents, probably for good this time. She'll need Sookie's support, even if she doesn't admit it. Dean, no matter what we tell them, it's possible they'll blame you anyway. They don't particularly like you."

Dean nodded. "I get that."

"I need to tell Lane, too. She deserves to hear it from me. She's been there for me the whole time. Is there anyone you want to tell?"

Dean shrugged. "Clara will need to know. I don't want her to hear it from town gossip. My grandparents and my older sister, too, I suppose; but mom and dad will tell them. I guess the people who need to know already do."

"Not your best friend?"

Dean smiled at her. "That would be you, but yeah, I may tell Todd. You know he's not particularly bright, but I think he'll step up." He looked at her. "You know, a lot of people won't believe our story. At school, I'll either be looked at as a monster or a stud. And at your school! Those people will be tearing you up. Are you ready for that?"

"Yeah well, I'm probably gonna have to withdraw. So I'll be back at Stars Hollow High soon. We'll shore each other up."

"What? No! You have to keep going there!" He almost pulled the car over. "Look Rory, your plans have changed, yes, but you can't do a 180! We'll figure this out and you will get your education there!"

"Dean! I don't think I'll have a choice. They frown on pregnant girls! They'll probably ask me to leave. The way I've been lately; I'm surprised that they haven't already."

"We'll talk to my dad. Maybe he can figure a way to keep you there."

"Look, I don't think I can handle the stress right now, anyway. Its fine, you know. Harvard is done for, but there are other really good schools out there."

"I hate this! This is so unfair." Dean was looking blindly around. They were in the town square and he looked for a place to park. "When you talk about college, all you ever talk about is Harvard. Whoever did this to us should pay, but I bet we never find out who it was!" They got out and started walking.

Rory reached up and hugged him. Quietly she said, "No, we won't ever know who did this, but I can't dwell on it too much; at least not today. I've cried enough already. I wanna be done with it. For 24 hours, I am a cry-free zone!"

Dean smiled at her. "You know you can't have coffee, don't you?"

"Aaaahhhhhh!" Rory leaned her head against Dean's chest. "That was a low blow. I may cry anyway." She leaned her head back and smiled a little. "My stomach has been acting up so much lately, that I haven't been able to drink it anyway." She turned and started walking again. "Let's go to Luke's"

Dean followed her across the street and they entered the diner.

Luke looked up when the door opened. He had a surprise on his face when he saw Rory. He had always had a soft spot for the girl ever since he met her and her crazy mother. He hadn't seen her much over the last two months and he had been worried.

'Hey!" He called out to her.

"Hey, Luke"

"Coffee?"

Rory looked at Dean, then turned back to Luke. "No, I think I'll have lemonade."

There were several regulars in the diner and all of them stopped talking and stared at her. Rory started to blush. "I, uh, haven't been feeling well." Dean put his hand on her back and nudged her over to the counter. She felt like bolting from the diner, but she knew that would be a bad idea.

Luke was standing at the counter looking at her. As she sat down, he leaned toward her and whispered, "What's wrong?"

Rory tried to brazen it out. "Wrong? Nothing!"

Luke looked at Dean, but Dean wasn't looking at him. He did look upset, though.

"Come into my office." He called back to Cesar to take care of the customers and led the two kids into the back room.

"Luke! There's nothing wrong!"

Dean took her hand and stopped her. He whispered, "This is who I wanna tell."

Rory looked at him for a moment, and then she nodded her head. She gestured him forward. "There goes my cry-free zone." She smiled at him.


	4. Chapter 3

"Tell me what?" Luke was looking at the kids standing there and felt certain he didn't want to know.

Dean stepped toward Luke. He was nervous, but he looked Luke right in the eye.

"That night, when we fell asleep at Miss Patty's… we think someone slipped us drugs…"

Luke looked at him in horror. "What?"

Dean nodded "We don't remember much, but…"

Luke looked at him. "You were drugged? And that's why you fell asleep."

Dean shook his head. "We must not have slept to begin with."

"What do you mean?" Luke growled menacingly.

Dean looked at Rory helplessly and she stepped in. "Mom went to Hartford and picked up a pregnancy test today."

Luke started to get angry. At first he wanted to throttle Dean, but the area was small and he didn't want to hurt Rory.

Rory could tell he was getting mad and she stepped between him and Dean. Dean put his hands on her shoulders and gently pushed her aside. His eyes never left Luke.

Luke was watching this and while he didn't understand what was happening, he noticed that Rory was trying to protect Dean. He took off his hat and ran his hands through his hair. With a sick feeling in his stomach, he asked, "What was the result?"

Dean looked at him and answered "Positive".

Luke nodded, looking at the floor. "You were both drugged and you don't remember what happened?"

"Yeah" Rory answered.

"What do the police say?"

"We didn't call them." Rory answered quietly. She knew Luke wouldn't like that.

Luke got angry again, "Why the hell not?"

"Because I don't want Dean blamed and I _know_ he wasn't at fault. I don't know how, but I do!" She kept her voice low and grabbed his arm. "You know they'll blame him! Neither of us remembers what happened, but you know some of the people of this town will have him tried and convicted!' She paused for a moment to regain control, "Besides, I don't want to be the object of gossip and pity."

Luke nodded in agreement at that.

Rory continued, "Look, Dean has been seeing a counselor to see if he can get some of the memories out, and I'm going go see the guy soon. We just don't know what happened, but obviously something did. If we ever figure out what happened, maybe we can go to the cops." Rory had been fighting the tears this conversation was causing, but when Luke looked at her with tears in _his_ eyes, she broke.

He pulled her into a hug and held her while she cried. Dean just stood there looking at them. Luke looked at him and realized there were two victims in this situation. When Rory was able to stop the tears again, Luke pulled her away and held her shoulders. He looked at her, "It'll be alright. I don't know how, yet, but it will. We'll help you guys get through this." He looked at Dean and then back at Rory. "Can I keep Dean here for a few minutes?"

"Luke –"

"He'll be fine."

Rory looked at Dean and walked out of the room. She didn't go far, though.

Dean stood where he was and waited for Luke to talk.

"You could tell I was starting to get mad at you."

Dean nodded.

"I'm sorry."

Dean just nodded again.

"You picked me to tell and I let you down."

"No, I expected it. Everyone knows your temper." Dean gave a half grin.

Luke snorted. "Yeah, well, are you okay? Everyone is gonna rally around Rory. She's the town darling and nobody thinks you're good enough for her."

It was Dean's turn to snort. "Yeah, I get that." He looked away for a moment. "Small towns suck."

Luke looked at him. "That they do. If you need help, come see me. If they see me defend you, hopefully they'll let up. What's Lorelai doing right now?"

"Telling Sookie and starting the 'Dean's a victim, too' ball." Dean's tone was bitter.

"Yikes, that sucks."

Dean just nodded. "School is gonna suck for a long time. People are still holding grudges over stuff that happened decades ago. If I were a complete coward, I'd take Rory and leave."

"That's not the answer. As much as you might want to leave, Rory needs to be with her mother; and you are _not_ a coward."

Dean nodded. "I know."

"It won't be fun, but stick it out." Luke looked at Dean until the boy looked up at him. "Look, tell Lorelai that you told me. Tell her I'll call her later."

He put his hand on Dean's shoulder and at that moment Dean's composure broke. He was crying and Luke gathered him in just like he had with Rory. He held the boy while the fresh tears poured down. In a few moments, Dean pulled himself together and stepped back. Without looking at Luke, he whispered, "Thanks"

Luke led him out of the back room and looked at Rory standing there. He gestured to his back door. "Go out that way." They nodded and left.

He went back into the front of the diner and everyone was looking at him. "What?" He picked up a rag and wiped the counter. "Eat your food!"

**GGSPNGGSPN**

Dean walked Rory over to Lane's house and then drove the two girls back to Rory's house. There was no way the next conversation between the girls could be held in the Kim household.

Lane, sensing something big had happened, chatted about nothing in particular during the ride. She kept glancing back and forth between the couple and noticed that both had been crying and were still visibly upset. She kept her questions to herself, though.

When they got back to the house, Dean stopped at the front of the house and looked at the girls. "I can tell that girl time is upon us." He smiled a little bit. Rory and Lane just looked at him. "I'm gonna go see Todd. Maybe work on his dad's car, or something."

He gave Rory a hug and a kiss and watched the two girls until they were safely in the house. Then he drove away.

He took his car to his own house then walked to Todd's, he found his friend in the garage. Music was playing low in the background and Todd and his dad were under the hood of the old junker they were restoring. Dean liked the old muscle car, but he didn't think they would _ever_ get it running. Todd told him his dad had bought the car a year before he was born. What with money and time, they could only work on it once in a while. But now that Todd was helping, they had made a little bit of progress. Parts for the old Chevy were hard to come by, though.

As he entered the garage, Mr. Harrison looked up and saw Dean's face. He wiped his hands on a shop rag as he greeted the boy and then handed him the tool he'd been using. There was a space heater running on low and Dean took his coat off and moved to take over what the man had been doing. Todd's dad patted Dean on the back and went into the house.

Todd looked at his friend and didn't say anything. Todd may not have been very bright, but he knew when not to talk.

After about an hour under the hood, Todd stood up and started cleaning his tools. Dean just stood there. There was a small refrigerator in the corner of the garage and Todd gestured to it. Dean moved over to it and pulled out two sodas.

Todd started drinking from the bottle and gestured to the car. "I think I can have her engine running in a couple of days. Dad found a new source for parts out in South Dakota. We're just waiting on a part from there."

Dean just nodded.

"That'll be epic, man! I can't wait to ride around in her!"

Dean nodded again.

Todd sighed, "Look, dude, just spill. You've got something ridin' around in ya. I'm not very smart, but even I can tell that."

Dean didn't say anything for a moment. He looked at the ground, "Rory's pregnant."

"Oh" He looked at his friend, "I thought you couldn't remember what happened. You saying you did it and don't remember? What the hell did you drink, man?"

"We think we were drugged. I mean that's the only explanation, isn't it?"

"Someone slipped you a mickey?"

"Yeah, something like that."

"Man that sucks!" Todd's insensitivity reared up. "You get laid and don't even remember!"

Instantly angry, Dean stood up and grabbed Todd's shirt. "I did _not_ get laid! Someone drugged us and in our drugged state I had sex with Rory! It's called sexual assault!" He was snarling in his friend's face.

Todd didn't struggle. "You two were raped?"

"Intercourse without consent is rape." Dean let go of his friend and sat back down. "I didn't consent. Neither did Rory. But she's pregnant now."

"Are you sure you're the father?"

Dean looked up at his friend ready to be angry again, but the question was valid. He nodded. "I don't remember much, but I get flashes; I'm pretty sure I am."

"Is Rory okay?"

"No, not really."

"Are you?"

"No, not really."

Todd nodded. He took a drink from his soda. There was nothing else to say. They sat there for a few minutes while they finished their drinks. Then Dean got up and left.

**GGSPNGGSPN**

At Rory's house, Lane and Rory were sitting on the couch talking quietly. Lorelai came in and just looked at them for a moment. Their lives were about to change and she wished with all her heart that they could be innocent 8 year olds again. She started up the stairs to give the girls privacy.

Rory told her friend about what she remembered and Lane listened. Being a best friend required that she believe Rory about the smoke and she vowed to find out more. Then Rory had to tell her the rest.

"I'm pregnant."

Lane just nodded. "I thought you might be."

Surprised, Rory just looked at her, "What?"

"One summer, I was sent to my aunt's house for a couple of weeks. My cousin had just gotten married and she was acting really strange. She would be happy one second and the next, crying buckets. She couldn't eat and was always saying how nauseated she was. Turns out she got knocked up on her honeymoon - with twins!" Lane shook her head. "That would suck! Don't you think? Getting pregnant on your honeymoon? It means you never get to have any time with your new husband. I would hate that!"

"Have I been acting like that?"

"No" Lane answered, "well the tears, yeah, and you haven't been eating very well. I could tell you were sick."

Rory nodded.

"So…" Lane was fidgeting with the blanket lying there. "You know I will be there for you 100%."

Rory nodded again.

"But you _do_ know that my mom is going to flip. This _will_ cause problems."

Rory looked at her. "I know." She looked down at the floor.

Lane took Rory's chin in her hands, forcing her to look up. "If ever there was a time for me to start standing up to my mom, it's now. I won't let her do anything that will take me away from you this time."

Rory started to cry. "I don't want come between you and your mom."

Lane smiled, "You let me worry about that. You have enough on your plate." She reached over and hugged her friend. "Now, no matter how it came to be, this is a baby, and babies are blessings."


	5. Chapter 4

**AN: I'm gonna start posting multiple chapters a day, now. I hope you enjoy them! Thanks, Sali.**

Over the next month, Rory and Lorelai worked at getting back into the swing of things. Lorelai took her to a doctor in Glastonbury so that they (hopefully) wouldn't run the risk of meeting any of the senior Gilmore's cronies and Rory tried to make up the school work she had been neglecting since the dance. She was making progress, but the stress was getting to her. She was loosing much needed sleep. In addition, so that Rory didn't carry around such a heavy backpack, Lorelai, Sookie and Dean were doing it in turns to get her to and from school. A decision about Chilton would have to be made soon.

The Friday night dinners were becoming more and more difficult. Some of the food Emily served was not agreeing with Rory, at all. Richard continued to recover from the angina attack he'd suffered just before Christmas and they were afraid of telling him for fear it would cause him more health problems.

Meanwhile, Emily started to talk about having Dean over for a dinner one night and they were reluctant to expose him to that. Lorelai and Rory were both concerned over the Gilmore's reaction to the news and how they would respond to Dean's involvement.

Dean and Rory were going to the psychiatrist weekly and more of Rory's memories were being unlocked. She continued to say there was black smoke, though. Dean could not remember it. The psychiatrist had suggested that they start taking anti-depressants because they were still reeling from the knowledge that they had been attacked, but both of them were reluctant to do it; Rory, especially. The doctor didn't blame them and didn't pressure them, either.

Lorelai had greatly overestimated the speed at which the news would travel because no one knew yet. There was speculation, but no actual knowledge was being passed around. Everyone still just had theories. That was mainly due to the people who had been told the truth. Sookie, Luke, Todd and Lane were all keeping their mouths shut. It wouldn't be long, though, because she was so petite, Rory would start showing soon.

**GGSPNGGSPN**

On the first day of April, Lane came over to have a girl's night with Rory and Lorelai. She had been doing some research about the black smoke and the internet was taking her places she had never even thought of. She had had to do the searches at the library because her mother refused to have the internet in her home. She wanted to discuss one theory with the girls, even though she knew they would think she was nutty. _She_ thought she was nutty.

Lorelai ordered pizza and had gotten a movie to watch. Lane arrived while she was setting out the other food they would eat. All of it was crap, but yummy. Lane wouldn't complain. All she got at her mother's house was tofu and other no-fat, no-calorie, no-flavour horrors.

As they were eating the pizza, Lane decided to tell them what she was thinking.

"So, I've been doing some research… you know the internet is a vast store of all sorts of things! It's really amazing what you can find." They were just looking at her, so she continued. "I may have some ideas about that black smoke you saw Rory."

"What? I thought we agreed that was a hallucination!" Lorelai looked at her daughter.

Rory shook her head. "No, _you_ thought that was a hallucination. I really think it was there!"

They were all set to get into an argument, but Lane whistled through her teeth. "Listen!" They looked at her, a little shocked.

"I found something and I need you to hear me out! It's crazy and my mother would have a conniption if she knew what I found during my research, but it may fit." Lane took another bite of the pizza. Even though she was about to be committed to a mental facility by two of the town's most eccentric citizens, she was really hungry and she was going to eat her food.

Rory and Lorelai looked at each other and then at Lane.

"WHAT?" They both shouted together.

Lane finished her bite and wiped her mouth with a napkin.

"I think Rory and Dean need to see a psychic."

Lorelai and Rory just looked at her waiting for her to laugh. Lorelai recovered first.

"A psychic…"

Lane nodded.

"A psychic…"

Lane took another bite of pizza and nodded again.

"You mean one of those women at carnivals who wear scarves and beads and curtain trim and speak with a fake Romanian accent and tell you your fortune by looking at a crystal ball. One of those psychics? I see one every summer! Taylor gets one for one of the summer festivals – I forget which one."

Rory interjected, "It's the Halloween festival"

"That's right!"

"No, I mean the real deal." Lane was not looking at the other two women because she didn't want them to see how worried she was. "There's one in Hartford. She takes appointments; I called her and got one for next Saturday."

Lane continued to eat her pizza while the Gilmore girls were sitting there dumbfounded.

Rory looked at her, waiting for the rest of it, but Lane didn't say anything more.

"Lane"

Lane looked at her.

"Are you crazy?"

Lane just shook her head.

"Why do you think we need to see a psychic?" Rory was using a special 'you're-crazy-but-I'll-go-along-to-placate-you' tone of voice.

Lane looked at her straight in the eye. "Because I think you were possessed."

Rory reeled back and stared at Lane for a long moment. She quickly got up off the floor and started to hyperventilate; then she bent over and grabbed her head. Lorelai and Lane jumped to their feet, but before they could stop her, she ran to the bathroom. They chased after her, but she slammed the door shut. Standing outside the little room, they could hear her retching and gagging.

Lane started to panic, "Lorelai, I'm sorry! I didn't know she would react like that!"

Lorelai was pounding on the door and then grabbed the doorknob; it was unlocked. Rory was heaving over the toilet and had started crying. Lorelai stepped into the small space and reached for her daughter.

"Rory, baby, what is it? What can I do?"

Rory couldn't answer her. She stopped heaving and was crying hysterically. Lorelai moved to get a cloth to wash her daughter's face.

Lane was standing out into the hall area frantic over what was happening. She didn't know what to do, so she turned and ran to the phone and called Dean. She reached him at Doose's.

"Dean, it's Lane! Something's wrong! Get over here!" Lane hung up the phone before Dean could ask any questions.

Lorelai heard Lane call Dean and agreed with that, so she didn't say anything. Rory started to calm down and Lorelai helped her up off the floor where she had fallen in front of the toilet. She helped her rinse her mouth and then led her into the bedroom. Lane followed behind and was silently crying in fear for her friend.

"Lorelai, should I call an ambulance?"

Lorelai looked at her daughter who was still crying and shook her head. "No. We'll wait for Dean. Whatever just happened… we have to tell him." She looked at Lane and could see that the teen girl was on the verge of a meltdown. She couldn't handle it, though because her daughter needed her, too. When Dean got there he could take over with Rory and Lorelai would be able to help Lane.

"Lane, can you maintain for a few minutes more?"

Lane looked at her and realized that hysteria on her part wouldn't help. She took a deep breath and nodded. "Yeah, this isn't about me. But aren't you angry at me?"

"No, honey, I'm not. But you have to tell me what you know. I wanna know why you said – what you said."

Lane nodded. "I have my notes in my backpack." Lane was wringing her hands. "Lorelai, I never would have said it out like that if I had known Rory would react that way."

Lorelai looked at her daughter who looked like she had fallen asleep and whose tears were still flowing as she lay there. "I know."

They stood there for a few more minutes just watching Rory cry in her sleep, when Dean burst through the door. He had run from Doose's Market without his coat and without taking off his apron. Lane moved into the kitchen so she could let him into Rory's room. He ran toward her and brushed past and looked at the girl lying on the bed.

"What the hell happened? Is it the baby?" He took off his apron and wadded it up in a ball. He was panting from the run and from panic.

Lorelai looked at him and didn't say anything for a second. She was unsure of his reaction based on what had happened with Rory.

"It's not the baby. Lane has a theory and when she told Rory – well Rory didn't react well to it."

"A theory about what?"

"A theory about what happened that night."

Dean looked at Lane and waited for her to speak. Lane remained silent.

"What?" He demanded.

Lorelai reached her hands to his shoulders and made him turn and look at her.

"Dean, judging by Rory's reaction, perhaps we should have your parents here."

"They're at my grandparent's for the weekend. I had to work, so I stayed behind."

"Okay, well…" Lorelai looked back at her daughter and saw that her eyes were open. "Rory! Talk to me!"

"I remember now."

"What do you remember?"

"Everything"

Dean looked at the girl lying on top of the bed and walked around to the other side of the bed. He sat down beside her and took her hand.

Rory looked at him and the tears just continued to fall. Then she turned to her mother and Lane.

"I'll tell him. But I want us to be alone when I do."

Lorelai looked at her daughter. Fear, worry and pain were plain on her face. She nodded and took Lane's shoulder and moved out into the kitchen. She closed the door.

Rory stared at the door for a moment before she tried to get up. Dean wouldn't let her move though. His stomach was in knots; judging by her condition, he knew it was going to be very bad. Rory turned to look at him.

"One of the things I told Lane was that I remember black smoke. None of you believe me, but I just knew it wasn't a hallucination."

"Rory, I –"

She held up her hand to stop him. "Dean, that's okay; I know you don't remember and considering what I remember, I don't blame you for forgetting."

"What do you mean?"

She looked at him. "I remember the dance, and the fight with Tristan, the walk we took and Miss Patty's studio being open. You said you had never been in there and we went in and looked at the pictures."

Dean nodded; these were all memories he had, too.

Rory continued, "I remember that I dropped my purse and you picked it up. You exclaimed over how heavy it was. I told you there was a book in it, you teased me and then you took it out and started to read from it. You sat down on a bean bag chair and I sat down beside you."

Dean looked at her. He didn't remember the book or the purse. He waited for her to continue.

"We, uh, were talking about the book and I looked up for a second. I saw the black smoke rush at me and more of it rushed at you. I opened my mouth and started to scream, but the black smoke was rushing in and overpowered me." Tears were coursing down Rory's face.

Dean just looked at her. He still didn't remember this and it sounded plain crazy.

Rory continued, "After a moment, I realized I was a prisoner… in my mind. There was something dark and awful in my body. It was happy because I was a virgin. I remember seeing you and you had black eyes. I could tell that there was someone – _something_ – in you, too.

As she said the last, Dean had been shaking his head, harder and harder. "No. No, no, no, no!" He grabbed his head like Rory had done and he was shaking. After a few seconds, he stood up and moved quickly over to the door. He, too, went into the bathroom and lost the food in his belly. This time, Rory moved in and helped him with a washcloth and a little water.

Lorelai and Lane just stood there, but they didn't interfere. This first part was between the two kids.

After a moment, Rory and Dean came out and moved back into Rory's bedroom.

This time Dean was the one to lie down on the bed and Rory sat beside him. Then she moved over and lay down. He put his arm around her and she put her head on his shoulder.

For a few moments, they didn't speak. Finally Dean said, "You were right all along; there was black smoke. We were possessed by something."

Rory nodded.

"And they used our bodies to have sex."

Again Rory nodded. "Dean, I'm afraid." She looked at him and put his hand on her belly. "Is this baby ours? Or theirs?"


	6. Chapter 5

Dean was looking a little freaked out. "How do you feel? What are your instincts saying?"

"I just don't know! My instincts are now gone" she responded. "Lane wants us to go to a psychic she found. Maybe she can tell us something."

"A what?"

"I know! It sounds crazy. She says this psychic is the real deal and she made us an appointment to see her. She's over in Hartford. Do you have to work?"

"Rory, I don't know. That's… A psychic? Really?"

"Dean, I know seeing… someone like that… it's weird. But I can't continue this way; not knowing what's going on. All of a sudden, I feel like I'm carrying Rosemary's baby! And it's too late to do anything about it!" Rory stood up and started pacing.

Dean looked at her shocked; that option had never been discussed when they and their parents were making plans and discussing the situation. He got up off the bed and walked over to her.

"Rory, neither of our families is particularly religious, but that option was never on the table for a reason. It still isn't."

"Dean, when I thought that this baby was yours and mine, abortion was unthinkable. Even if, in the end, we put the baby up for adoption, it was still _ours_. Now, we don't know what it is! It could be Damien for all we know!"

"It's not Damien!"

"We don't know that!"

"I think we do! It was our bodies that created the baby! No one else was there – well, not in physical form."

"I know, but…"

"No, Rory, we have to think it's still ours, or we'll both go over the edge." He pulled her into a hug. "We'll go see this psychic of Lane's; maybe she'll have more answers. Meanwhile, since we know Lane was on the right track, let's go out and talk to her."

When Rory and Dean came out of the bedroom, they found Lane and Lorelai huddled over the notes that Lane had written out. They had been discussing what Lane had found. They looked up at Rory and Dean when they entered the room.

Lorelai got up and moved over to them. She hugged her daughter and looked at Dean. "What do you remember?"

Dean looked at her with pain and fear in his eyes. "Everything… and it's bad, but we don't know how bad; we may not know for another 5 or so months."

"So, Lane is right? You were possessed?" Even though she trusted her daughter implicitly and to a lesser degree Dean, the very idea that something supernatural existed and attacked her daughter was making her head spin.

Rory answered, "Yeah, we think so."

"This is insane! What do you remember? Why do you think it was a possession? And what possessed you?"

Rory disengaged from her mother at that moment and said, "Mom, we don't want to talk about what happened that night. Other than to say, we weren't in control." She took Dean's hand and moved over to the couch. "We're never going to be able to tell anyone, but you and Dean's parents the truth. No one will believe us! I don't even think Barbara and Randy will. I don't even think you really do!" She held up her hand when Lorelai started to speak. "Luke and Sookie will just have to continue thinking we were drugged."

Lorelai was looking at Dean. "Wait a minute! What do you mean you won't know for another five months? The baby? Something is wrong with the baby?"

"Mom! We don't know!" Rory was still sitting on the couch. She looked at Dean and he nodded. She took a deep breath. "Mom, I was right; there was black smoke. Dean remembers it now, too. That black smoke was a something and it took over our bodies. We just don't know what the consequences are!"

Rory took a deep breath. In a desperate attempt to change the subject, she said, "Lane, what made you say what you did earlier?"

Lane had been sitting in a chair across from the couch looking at her notes. She could hardly believe that the crazy notion she'd had was the actual answer to the mystery. She had done the search on the computer at the library and when references kept taking her to all of these weird websites… She looked up at her best friend and tried to smile, but it was a futile effort.

"I started with the black smoke and memory loss. Using a search engine, I found all of these weird occult references. Black smoke along with memory loss from someone sometimes indicates demonic activity, but there are usually other signs of such at the scene. I don't remember Miss Patty mentioning the smell of sulfur in her studio; neither of you did, either. Another sign of demonic activity is crop failure. I looked at old newspapers from around that time and no one had any weird or unexplained crop failures, of course it was the middle of winter. Weird weather patterns are a third sign and there were none of those either. So I ruled out demonic possession."

She got up and moved over to the couch, "I tried to find other references that didn't involve the supernatural and nothing else fit. I kept coming back to it. So I decided that maybe the supernatural has a small place in this mystery. I couldn't ignore my gut!

"I didn't know where else to go with it, and then decided that maybe I needed supernatural help." She took a deep breath. "I told you that I found a psychic in Hartford. Her name is Angelina Davenport and when I called her, she told _me_ what I was calling about. I hardly said two words to her and she said 'Tell Rory and Dean to be here next Saturday at 1 o'clock.' Then she just hung up. Guys, I swear on my mother's bible, I did not give her your names. _And_ I was using a pay phone."

There was nothing else to say about anything and they all agreed to meet at the Gilmore house the next week at noon. Dean escorted Lane to her house to make sure she got there safely, but both of them knew, now, that no one was really safe. After seeing Lane into her home, Dean turned around and walked back to the Gilmore house. Suddenly staying at home, alone, held no appeal. He was going to ask to sleep on their couch.

The following Friday, dinner with the elder Gilmore couple was upon them. Rory had had a particularly hard day at school because Paris was still mad about the 'fix-up date' with Tristan and had been giving Rory a hard time of it. What with the stress of school and bombardment from Paris, Rory was too sick to go, so Lorelai went alone. She told Rory that she was going to tell her parents tonight.

When she got to the big house, her stomach was in knots and she knew that she wouldn't be able to eat anything. She still hadn't decided exactly how to tell them, but she knew she couldn't wait any longer.

She rang the bell and Emily opened the door.

"Hi, mom." Lorelai tried to smile.

"Hello, where's Rory?" Emily stood in the doorway and did not invite her daughter in.

"Wow, the house looks nice from here! Did you get a new…?" She sighed, "Whatever."

Emily just looked at her daughter with exasperation and then moved aside and gestured her into the foyer. "Lorelai, where's Rory?"

"Rory didn't feel well enough to come tonight."

Emily looked immediately worried. "She's sick? What did the doctor say?"

"I didn't take her to one today."

"Why not? If she's sick, she needs to see a doctor."

"She's… not sick."

"Well then, what's wrong with her?"

"Mom, where's Dad?" Lorelai moved into the sitting room where the alcohol was.

Emily followed behind. "He's in his office; don't change the subject."

"Did you tell him about what happened after the dance in December?"

"Yes, he tried to call the police. I talked him out of it. What's this about?"

"That's good. The police didn't need to be involved… Rory will appreciate that - so will Dean." She continued, "So he knows Rory fell asleep and didn't come home that night."

"That was the story I gave him."

"Well that's good, uh, good… that's the story you gave him because that _was_ the truth…"

"Lorelai, what are you dithering about?"

Lorelai took a deep breath, "Mom, I wanna tell you the rest of the story and I guess Dad should be here, too."

**GGSPNGGSPN**

Twenty minutes later, Lorelai left her parent's home for the last time. She got into her car and drove out of the driveway and decided to pull over and stop. She couldn't see for the tears. A little later, when she pulled herself together, she started the car and headed again for home.

When she reached Stars Hollow, Lorelai slowed down as she passed Luke's Diner. She needed coffee, badly and she could see him in the window cleaning tables. She pulled over and got out of the car.

As she was crossing the street, Luke looked up and saw her out the window. He put down the rag and went to the door.

"What happened?"

Lorelai looked at him and tried to smile, "Hello, Luke, why, yes, it _is_ a fine day!"

"Come on, what happened?" He took her arm and moved her over to the counter. He moved behind it and grabbed a to-go cup and the coffee pot. "Have you eaten? Oh, what am I talking about? It's Friday night, of course you've eaten."

"No, I haven't, but I'm not hungry."

At that, Luke became alarmed, "What _happened_?" Luke asked for the third time. He put the coffee in front of her.

She fiddled with the cup and then took a sip. "I told my parents." She answered in a low voice. "I told them about Rory."

"I guess they didn't take it very well."

"Understatement of the year." Lorelai tried to smile, but she had tears again in her eyes. "We're done for good now. We won't even see them at holidays anymore. I'm an orphan."

"Nah, you're not an orphan. You have a huge family here. Stars Hollow residents stand behind their own.

"Yeah, but are they standing behind Dean? Will they?"

"I've been keeping my eye on him, Dean's doing okay, for now."

Lorelai tried to smile, "Thanks for that. Well, I'd better get home. Rory is waiting for me." She got up from the counter stool and picked up the cup.

"How is she?"

Lorelai smiled at the thought of her daughter, "Scared and sad, but trying to be strong. She's starting to show a little."

"She's okay though? Healthy?"

"Yeah, Luke, she's healthy." Lorelai turned and walked to the door.

"What about you? You, uh, you healthy?" Luke winced at the stupidity of that question. Sometimes he got tongue-tied around Lorelai.

Lorelai turned back around to look at him. "Yeah, Luke, I'm healthy, too." She left.

**GGSPNGGSPN**

The phone was ringing when she entered her house and she quickly moved over to answer it.

"Hello?"

"Ms. Gilmore? This is Headmaster Charleston."

"Yes, Headmaster Charleston?"

"I just received a phone call from Emily Gilmore. She has informed me that she and her husband will no longer be paying for Rory's tuition."

"Headmaster Charleston, is this something we need to discuss now?"

"I think it is. She informed me that Rory could no longer attend Chilton due to an illness."

"Rory is not ill."

"No, I understand that. The rest of the faculty will be informed that Rory is ill." He paused for a moment. "Frankly, I'm surprised. I never noticed that Rory was a foolish or ignorant girl. I expected her to maintain high standards both academically and morally. I can see now that I was wrong."

"Headmaster Charleston, just what did my mother tell you?"

"She said that Rory slept with her boyfriend in a public place and is now pregnant."

"So, she didn't tell you that Rory was slipped some sort of drug?"

"Her boyfriend gave her date-rape drugs?"

"No, Dean did not do it. We think they were slipped something in their food; possibly at the dance... Neither Dean nor Rory remembers what happened."

Instantly alarmed, he responded, "I can assure you it was not at the dance! How do you know it wasn't this Dean person?"

"Well aside from the fact that I know Dean, and I consider myself to be a very good judge of character, there is the fact that Dean shows signs of trauma, too."

Lorelai sighed, "Look, Headmaster Charleston, I was going to call on you Monday and you've just saved me a trip to the school. I am officially withdrawing Rory from your hideous school. I'll get her into Harvard another way. However, I do appreciate the fact that you will be telling people she is sick; even though we both know no one will believe it."

Lorelai hung up the phone.

About five minutes later, the phone rang again. Lorelai groaned and dropped her shoulders, and then she answered it.

"Hello?"

"Ms. Gilmore, it's Headmaster Charleston again."

"Headmaster Charleston, I think we were done speaking."

"You may have been, but I was not." He paused for a moment to see if she would hang up on him again. He admired her restraint when she didn't. "In light of the new information you have given me, I will welcome Rory's return to the school when she is no longer 'ill'. I will also arrange a full scholarship. This 'hideous school' needs students of Rory's caliber."

Lorelai was struck speechless at this.

"In order to maintain her academic standing, I will also ask one of the faculty members if they would be willing to tutor her at home until she can return. Will Max Medina be okay for this or would you rather I ask a female to be her tutor?"

"Uhh, uhh, no Max Medina would be fine. Rory really likes him."

"That'll be fine, then. I will contact you with more information as plans have been settled."

"Thank you." Lorelai looked at the floor. "Headmaster Charleston, you… I…"

"I will let you go now. Please tell Rory, I'm thinking of her. Goodnight."

This time he hung up the phone on her.

**AN: I admit it, I was cowardly. I didn't write the argument between Lorelai and her parents because I didn't think I could do it justice. Also, I have some sympathy for her parents and I can see both sides of the equation (I'm a Libra.). Lorelai never tried to figure her parents out. Her parents never tried to understand her. I always actually liked them. This situation would bring out their worst side, though.**


	7. Chapter 6

The next day, Rory, Dean, Lorelai and Lane met at the Gilmore house to head off to Hartford. Lorelai still hadn't told her daughter about the permanent rift between her and her parents. That was something they could discuss at another time. Rory would be crushed that she had lost her grandparents.

As they drove away, however, Lorelai decided to let Rory know that the Chilton door was not permanently closed. She informed her daughter that a scholarship was going to be given when Rory was ready to come back. She also told her that Mr. Medina would be tutoring her until she could return. Rory, whose hormones were kicking up, started crying. They had been sitting together in the back seat and she leaned into Dean's side and fell asleep.

When they arrived at Angelina's door, they were all nervous and a little scared. They all had a feeling that whatever this woman told them would be either frightening or crazy, or worse, both.

She answered the door wearing a pair of jeans and a long sleeve tee; she was wearing socks, but no shoes. She had long blonde hair and was very pretty. She greeted them warmly and invited them all into her home.

She looked at Lane first and took her hand. "Hello, Lane. Thank you for calling last week. That can be a very frightening call to make for someone raised as you were."

Lane's mouth was open. "I, uh…"

She smiled at the young girl, "Don't worry about it. No one here will tell your parents."

She turned to the others in the room and waited for one of them to speak. Lorelai, who never left a silence without trying to fill it, smiled, "I must say that I was expecting something a little more… exotic."

Angelina smiled teasingly, "Scarves, Romanian accent and curtain trim, perhaps?"

Lorelai blushed; she felt as though this woman had overheard her being insulting. "Something like that."

Angelina laughed. "I was raised 'right here in River City'. The only accent I can actually do is a southern, but I sound like an idiot when I try it."

She turned and led them into her parlor. The room was narrow, but long with two sitting areas separated by a wall with pocket doors. The doors were fully open making the room appear larger. "Rory and Dean should sit on the couch right there. I want to focus on them for a few minutes and then I want to speak to Rory and then Dean alone." She looked at Lorelai. "Will you be okay with that?" Before Lorelai could answer, she gestured to the other seats for Lane and Lorelai to sit in.

"I, uh, don't know; you planning on hurting her?" Lorelai smiled nervously as she sat down in a wonderfully comfortable chair.

"Oh, no! You'll be able to see us, but I want to speak to them each in private for just a few minutes; a little one-on-one time."

Rory and Dean had been sitting on the couch and they were holding hands. Both of them were scared of what the woman would say. Rory's eyes were large and frightened and Dean was gripping her hand tightly.

Angelina was looking at them approvingly as she sat down in a chair across from them. She then held out her hands. They put their free hands into hers and she closed her eyes.

She held their hands for a few minutes and the silence was starting to freak everyone out.

Finally, she opened her eyes and smiled at them.

"What do you remember?" She asked Rory.

Rory started to speak, "Well, that night, Dean and I went to a dance held by my school. We had a good time, but decided to leave a little early, so we could take a walk and get some coffee."

Angelina nodded.

Rory continued, "We were walking past the dance studio when we noticed it was still open. We figured Miss Patty had forgotten to lock it up; so we went in. Dean had never been in there and we went in to look at the pictures displayed on the wall. I dropped my purse and Dean picked it up. I was carrying a book and we started to read it."

Rory was starting to look upset and Angelina held up her hand to stop her from going on.

"Okay, you can stop. I know what happened next." Angelina smiled at them. "It's bad, but not as bad as you might think." She wasn't whispering, but her voice was low, "First, let me tell you that I don't know what attacked you, but I do know it was dark and evil; probably demonic."

Lorelai started to speak.

Without looking at her, Angelina held up her hand. "Wait a minute, Lorelai, let me finish. I don't know what it was, but it couldn't have been a full demon. A full demon would never have let you go."

Rory and Dean were horrified. They knew it was bad, but this scared them beyond all measure. Rory asked the question, "Will they come back?"

"I honestly don't know."

Angelina took a deep breath. "Rory, Dean you are worried that the baby isn't human. It is."

They nodded, more than a little relieved.

"Next," Angelina continued, "it's healthy. And smart. Do you want to know if it's a boy or girl?"

Dean and Rory looked at each other, and then turned to Angelina. Dean nodded and Rory spoke, "Yeah, we wanna know."

Angelina looked at Lorelai and Lane, "Do you want to know?"

Both of them nodded.

"It's a boy." She smiled at them, "It is _not_ Damien."

Rory leaned over and put her head on Dean's shoulder. She was crying and could not contain her relief that the baby would be all right.

Angelina again looked at them in approval. She turned to Lorelai, "Now, I know someone who can help you find out the rest of the answers. I'll give him a call and ask him to come here. I'll let you know when he'll arrive. Is it all right if I give him your address and phone?"

"Who is it?"

"His name is John Winchester; he's what we call a 'hunter'. He hunts supernatural things and destroys them. He will know how to prevent this from happening again and he may be able to punish the creatures that did this. He travels with his two sons Sam and Dean. Sam is about Rory and Dean's age." She smiled, "The name thing _will_ get complicated; other things will also be complicated."

She turned to Rory again. "Rory, come with me to the other area. We can talk in private and then I'll return you to your family. Okay?"

Rory nodded and Angelina took her hand and led her into the other room.

Angelina smiled at Rory, who could barely maintain eye contact. "You knew and you protected Dean from an accusation of rape." She was speaking in a whisper to ensure that no one overheard her.

Rory nodded.

Angelina continued, "Dean doesn't know you protected him. Neither does your mom."

Rory shook her head.

"He won't approve, but he will forgive you when he finds out. Your mom is another worry all together. She will come around when you tell her everything, but you'll need to give her time and space for a day or two."

Rory was crying again and trying to stop the tears.

"Your little town will find out in the next couple of days. I suggest that Dean be pulled from school and kept home. It will not go well for him. Do you want me to tell your mom that?"

Rory nodded, in her worry for Dean, she was able to stop crying.

"Rory, I can't see everything, but I think it will be fine. You'll see. Oh and Harvard? It will be waiting for you when the time comes. And who knows? Maybe _you_ won't want Harvard…"

She smiled and put her arm around Rory's shoulder, "Come on, let out your relief on Dean's shoulder while I talk to your mom. You know, he's a pretty stand-up guy with all these tears."

Lorelai was looking at her daughter the entire time Angelina had her in the other room. She was terrified of what the two were talking about.

Angelina took Rory over to Dean and turned to Lorelai.

"I guess I need to speak to you as well now." Angelina smiled. "Sometimes it happens that way. One thing leads to another and then to a third unexpected thing; unexpected even to me."

"What is it?" They walked over to the other area for privacy.

"While I was holding the kid's hands, I saw that she and Dean have become linked." She held up her hand. "It's perfectly natural for kids with an unplanned pregnancy to 'link-up' so to speak. It's a kind of defense mechanism in a stressful situation. You'll notice it when they start finishing each other's sentences or when they speak for the other one or if they look like they're communicating without speaking; like they did earlier. It's beyond the love they share. I have always thought it was the baby who was the conduit. Most people don't even notice it; considering how this baby got started, it's not surprising."

She continued, "Neither one of them has any discernable psychic ability and this accord will fade away after the stressful situation is over. That may be in a few months when the baby is born or a little after that depending on what you and they decide to do. She paused and looked intently at Lorelai, "Do you remember what it felt like with Christopher?"

Lorelai was surprised, she had obviously never mentioned Rory's father to Angelina, but thinking back, she did remember the way they acted around each other. She nodded.

"So, you know what they are doing and how they feel. You can trust that it comes naturally to them. They will be more and more protective of each other as well. Rory has shown this protective instinct from the _very_ _beginning_."

Lorelai nodded.

Angelina looked at her. "That said, your little town will know in a few days; a week at the most. Dean will need to be pulled from school before that happens. Some of the townspeople will assume he raped her; no matter what you tell them. Luke will not be able to protect him enough. He has enough on his plate coming up."

"You know Luke?"

Angelina laughed a little. "Well, I never met him…" She walked away.

She then pulled Dean over to talk.

"Dean, Rory is very protective of you. I see signs that you are protective of her as well. That's fine and it's natural. Please remember though, that you must trust her. She is your partner in this situation and she is relying on you for more than you think.

He just looked at her.

I've already spoken to Lorelai, but your parents will need to pull you from school. The next few months will be hard on you. I think you can stand, though. It will get better after awhile. Finish the school year out at home and you'll be able to return in September or October, okay?"

Dean nodded at her, but he looked upset. He didn't particularly like school, but dropping out wasn't a good idea either.

As they were leaving, Angelina held Lane back for a second. "Lane, your mom is going to try to keep you from seeing Rory soon. Are you ready for that fight?"

Lane looked scared and upset, but she nodded.

"It will be worth it. You must remember to follow your own path. You have already started down it. You will be fine and in the end, you will have everything you ever wished for and some surprises as well."

**AN: This entire chapter was completely made up. I've never been to a psychic and don't usually watch things like **_**Ghost Whisperer**_** or **_**Medium**_**. I don't even watch **_**Psych**_**. So I decided to just write a made up scene to get the Winchesters into the story… finally. I hope it was sufficiently 'psychic-y' enough and not too over the top. (Re-reading this thing, makes me think it's more like an astrology column, but oh well, I did the best I could.) Also, Angelina's appearance is based on a real psychic I found on-line. I changed her last name, but I thought her first name was pretty. I also based her a little bit on Traci Dinwiddie's 'Pamela', whom I adored (I thought about just using Pam, but in this timeline, she would have been in her teens or early 20s probably and it just didn't fit). Anyway, whenever Angelina laughs, you should hear, in your mind, Pam laughing.**


	8. Chapter 7

On Tuesday, after their visit with Angelina, she called with the information for Lorelai and Rory that the Winchesters would be there on Thursday. She also made sure that Lorelai, Rory and Dean understood that they needed to be completely forthcoming with the hunters. The Winchesters _would_ believe them.

**GGSPNGGSPN**

Thursday, a little after noon, John Winchester knocked on the door of the house; behind him were his two sons, Sam and Dean. He turned around and looked at his younger son, "Sam, can you go to the market we saw a couple of streets over and get some stuff?" He handed over the keys, a list and some money.

Sam's tone was a little surly, but he said, "Yeah, sure." He walked over to the car and drove away.

A moment later, Lorelai came to the door and greeted John and Dean. When they told her who they were, she opened the door and asked them to come in.

Both men were struck by Lorelai's beauty and both men felt interested in getting to know her better on a personal level.

"I thought there were three of you." Lorelai started the conversation.

"Oh, yeah, I sent my younger son, Sam, to get some things we needed at the market." He turned and gestured to his other son, "This is Dean, my oldest; I'm John."

"I'm Lorelai," Lorelai shook both men's hands and asked them to sit down.

The two men sat on the couch while Lorelai perched nervously on the chair across from them; she was running the palms of her hands over her legs and she was fidgeting, as well.

John, who was watching her, decided to start the ball rolling, "I got a call from a friend of mine, Angelina Davenport, and she told me there was something going on here that was maybe up my alley. She asked me to contact you and gave me your address and phone."

Lorelai was nodding her head. "She called us a couple of days ago saying she was sending in experts to help us find out what happened. She gave me your name." Lorelai was smiling nervously, "She told me that we could tell you everything and that you would believe us."

"Well, there's very little I don't believe, anymore."

Lorelai nodded, she took a deep breath and started, "It happened last December. Rory, that's my daughter and her boyfriend Dean, went to a formal dance at Rory's school. On the way home they were walking on Main Street and they stepped into a dance studio… I don't know what exactly happened next."

John nodded at her to continue. Dean just looked at her and from time-to-time would glance around the room. He was listening, though.

"At first we just thought they had fallen asleep because Rory and Dean were awakened the next morning by Miss Patty."

"Miss Patty?"

"Yeah, she's the owner of the dance studio. At the time, neither Rory nor Dean could remember _anything_ that happened when they were inside the studio."

"Dean's parents took him to a doctor to be tested for drugs. That's the story we've been circulating around the town; the kids were drugged." She smiled grimly, "It's our story and we're sticking to it."

John nodded and smiled, a good cover story is essential.

She continued, "There were no drugs in his system, though."

John was watching her as she fidgeted, "What about Rory?"

Lorelai looked at him, "I tried to take her to the doctor, but she refused."

John nodded, "I take it they started to remember?"

Lorelai nodded, "She remembered black smoke first. Dean didn't remember that and I just thought it was a hallucination from the drugs I thought had been slipped to them."

At the mention of black smoke, the Winchester men looked at each other, Dean looked a little confused.

"Her friend Lane did some research on the internet. She's the one who found the answer. Rory's reaction was almost instantaneous! She remembered everything within a minute or so. It was like the word 'possessed' was the key that unlocked her memory and Dean reacted almost the same."

"Where are Dean and Rory now?"

"They went for a walk; Rory likes to get out of the house while the other kids are in school. She and Dean are now being home schooled."

"Why's that?"

Lorelai looked surprised by the question. "Didn't Angelina tell you?"

John looked at her with a blank expression on his face.

"Rory's pregnant."

"Ah, hell. How old is she?" John rubbed his hand over his beard. Dean just looked upset.

"She's 16," Lorelai tried to smile, but couldn't hold it. "The same age I was when I had her." Lorelai jumped to her feet. "Do you want some coffee? I could use some coffee."

John and Dean both nodded at her and then watched her rush out of the room.

Dean, thinking she was a total MILF, looked at his dad and smiled. "Wow, she's smokin'."

John smacked the back of his son's head, not hard though because he was thinking the same thing, "We're working. And she's too old for you."

"She's only 32!"

"And you're only 22. I repeat; she's too old for you."

While Lorelai was in the kitchen making coffee and looking for some cookies or something to offer the men, Sam came to the door. He knocked.

John had heard the car, so he stood up and called to Lorelai, "That's my other boy; I'll get it."

"Okay," Lorelai called back.

John went to the door and opened it. "Where's the stuff I sent you for?"

Sam looked at his father with a bitchy face, "I left it in the car. I didn't figure you needed toothpaste right this minute."

John sighed; it was going to be long day – again. "Come in, let me introduce you to the woman we came to help."

Sam stepped into the house and immediately noticed its charm. It wasn't a big house, but it looked lived in and comfortable. Once again his jealousy over other people's fortune was upon him.

His anger over his inability to control his own life was starting to consume him. He desperately wanted to leave this existence and for once, stay in one place longer than a couple of weeks.

Once again, he put it aside because he had a more pressing concern right then. "Dad, I need to speak to you. There's something wrong with this town."

For once, John heard the tone of his son's voice. "What?"

"Everywhere I went, people were looking at me funny. Some of them were openly hostile and one man wearing a plaid shirt and his hat on backwards stopped me, put his hand on my shoulder and asked if I was doing all right. At the market, everyone talked to me like they knew me and called me by Dean's name!"

"What the hell?" John turned to his other son. "You ever come here without me?"

"Dad, you know I haven't; besides who would mistake me for Sammy?"

Lorelai was still in the kitchen when the front door opened again and a young girl came in. She didn't notice the men in her living room. "Mom, We're back! You should see the car out fr-"

She stopped when she saw the three strangers in her house, but when she saw Sam, she nearly fainted.

"Who – who are you?" Her eyes never left Sam's face. Just at that moment, Dean entered the house. He had been looking toward the kitchen and turned around and came face-to-face with the men. He looked at Sam, just as Sam, Dean and John spotted him.

"What the hell?" Surprised and a little freaked out, Dean Forester looked at Sam, "Who are you?"

"Who the hell are _you_?" Sam demanded, shocked.

In a flash, John moved over to Dean Forester and grabbed his arm. Dean already had a small bottle of holy water out. And Sam pulled out a knife. Within seconds, Dean Forester was on the floor and wet with water that had been thrown in his face.

Rory started to scream at them for attacking her boyfriend and Lorelai came running into the room. She watched the three men wrestling with Dean, but she couldn't see Sam's face or the knife.

She turned to her daughter. "Quick, clutch your stomach and go ooohhhhhh!"

Rory looked at her mother with confusion. "What?"

"Do it! Act like you mean it!"

Rory clutched her stomach, bent over a bit and said loudly, "Ooooohhhhhhh!" She put a bit of a groan into it.

Lorelai grabbed her arm and exclaimed loudly, "Rory, honey, is it the baby?" She led Rory over to the couch.

At those magic words, all four men stopped fighting on the floor and looked at her. At that moment Lorelai got her first look at Sam Winchester's face.

"Whoa!"

"Dammit! Let me up!" Dean Forester started fighting even more. He needed to get to Rory.

"Let him up." Lorelai could be formidable when necessary. The men released Dean and he rushed to Rory's side.

"Dean, she's fine. She was a distraction." She turned to the three men and waited. "Can you tell me what this is about?"

John Winchester's eyes never left the double sitting beside the girl on the couch. "Who is he?"

"He's Rory's boyfriend, Dean." She pointed to Sam. "Who's he?"

"He's my son, Sam."

Lorelai looked at Sam and at the knife in his hand, "Can you explain why you were going to stab my daughter's boyfriend?"

Sam's eyes also never left Dean Forester's face. "I wasn't going to stab him; I was going to cut him." He was practically panting with fury.

"Oh, that's fine, then. At least you weren't going to kill him."

He still hadn't looked at the woman he was talking to, "I will if he doesn't pass some tests."

Dean and Rory were watching this exchange from the couch. Rory stood up at that last comment and got in front of Dean to protect him, "What do you mean by that?"

Dean Forester sighed and got up. He moved Rory back to the couch and sat her down. "Quit doing that. I protect you, not the other way around."

At that moment, Dean Winchester decided he liked this double of his brother's. "Dad lets just do the tests and see what happens. He's already passed the holy water. Give me the knife; he doesn't need to be cut; holding the silver will prove he's not a revenant, a shapeshifter or a skin walker, although since Sam's standing here alive, he wouldn't be a revenant." He turned to Lorelai, "Can you bring us some salt?"

Lorelai didn't take her eyes off of Sam. In her mind, Sam was the most dangerous because he still held the knife. "It's in the kitchen. Sam and I will go and get it."

Sam finally took his eyes off of Dean Forester and looked at the lady talking. He looked surprised by her beauty, but it didn't distract him long. He turned back to staring at the double and passed the knife to his brother. Then he followed Lorelai into the kitchen.

Dean moved over to the young man on the couch, "Hold out your hand."

Dean Forester looked at him, trying to decide if he could trust this man in front of him.

Dean Winchester sighed, "I'm not gonna cut you; just hold out your hand."

John looked at the young man on the couch. "Do it!" he ordered.

Dean Forester never looked away from Dean Winchester while he slowly held his hand out. The older Dean placed the blade of the knife flat side down onto the younger Dean's palm. Nothing happened.

Rory put her head down on the pillow at the end of the couch. She put her feet behind her Dean. She was watching them all, but her eyes were heavy.

Dean Winchester looked at his father. "Nothing"

John continued to look at the younger Dean's face. "Have him eat some salt, and then we'll know for sure."

Dean Forester was starting to get cranky, "Hey, can I have some popcorn or maybe some chips with my salt?"

John just looked at him, "Shut up."

Dean sat down and looked at the younger man's face. He couldn't see any differences between this boy and his brother.

"When were you born?"

"November 2, 1983."

Both Dean and John got a pained look on their faces at that, "Dad, what the hell?"

"I don't know, Son."

Dean Winchester looked again at the younger man. "Is your mom still alive?"

Dean Forester looked incredulous and angry at the same time, "What the hell kind of question is that? Yes, my mom is still alive!"

John walked over to stand over the young man. "Did anything happen in your nursery when you were six months old? On May 2, 1984?

"Well, let me see… I remember I had a diaper change, and then I was put to bed in my crib…" Dean Forester looked at them like they were crazy. "How the hell should I know if anything happened when I was 6 months old?"

As he entered the room, Sam heard the last few comments. Lorelai was behind him with a tray of coffee and cookies that she placed on the coffee table. She also included a salt shaker. She looked over at the couch with her daughter on it. Then she picked up the tray again and turned around. Quietly, she told them to follow her back into the kitchen.

Rory had fallen asleep.

**AN: Okay, the Winchesters are here, finally. I hope you liked the first encounter between the Winchesters and Dean Forester... Thanks, Sali.**


	9. Chapter 8

Dean put some salt from the shaker into the palm of his hand and licked it off. He looked at them, picked up the glass of soda Lorelai had given him and took a drink. He waited for some sign from the three men that he was not gonna be stuck with that knife.

Sam continued to stare at him and his hand hovered over the knife that was resting on the table.

John took a deep breath and sighed. "He passed the three basic tests, but I doubt Lorelai will let us shock him or do anything else that'll leave a mark."

Dean looked angry and a little scared, "Shock me? What the hell do you mean by that?"

John rubbed his face, "Look kid…"

"Dean. My _name_ is Dean."

"So am I." Dean Winchester raised his hand and smiled a little bit.

Lorelai's face was scrunched up. "This must be what she meant."

All four men looked at her.

"I, uh, mean Angelina. Remember, Dean? When she said the name thing would be complicated; then she smiled and said there would be other complications?"

Dean Forester nodded; he remembered.

John looked up at that, "The kid met her?"

Lorelai nodded. "It concerned him, so he went."

John got up from the table and pulled a phone out of his pocket. He left the house by the back door.

Sam and Dean Winchester just sat and drank their coffee. They knew what their dad was doing.

"Where'd he go?" Ever curious, Lorelai nearly followed him.

"Am I going to be referred to as 'the kid' from now on?" Dean's bitchy face was nearly identical to Sam's, but Sam had had more practice, so his was _slightly_ bitchier.

Neither boys noticed because they didn't look up from their coffee, but they did nod.

John came back in.

The Winchester boys looked up at him and he nodded.

"Can I ask what that was about? Or was it some super-secret-hunter thing?" Lorelai hated to be left out of the loop.

John nearly smiled at that. "I called Angelina and she vouched for him."

"Oh, well, thank God for that!" Lorelai was getting angry. "My word wasn't good enough for you?"

John looked at her. "You wouldn't know what you were vouching for."

That shut Lorelai up. She just looked at him.

John turned to his sons and handed Dean the keys to The Impala, "Sam, Dean, I wanna talk to the kid, alone; why don't you go find a motel." He turned to Lorelai, "Is there a cheap motel around here?"

Lorelai stared at him a minute. Then she got up and walked out of the room without saying anything. Dean Forester nearly smiled at that. Lorelai could be bitchy, too.

She was only gone a few minutes and when she came back she had a piece of paper in her hand. "These are directions to the Independence Inn. I run it. I've called ahead and reserved a suite for you. There's a king and two doubles."

John shook his head. "I'm sorry, we can't afford that."

Lorelai just looked at him. "You're here to help us. Angelina said so. I can hold rooms for myself any time I want; one of the perks. You might as well use them. Food will be comp'd as well."

Dean and Sam both looked up at her; that had caught their attention. Simultaneously, they looked at their dad with hopeful expressions.

He stared at Lorelai for a few seconds, "All right. Thanks."

Lorelai handed the directions to Dean and they got up and left.

John was still looking at her and when she turned back around, she stared back at him. Finally he cleared his throat and pulled out a notebook. He looked at Dean, "Okay kid, I need you to tell me everything."

Dean looked at Lorelai and blushed. He had a feeling the questions would be personal and probing.

Lorelai saw that he was blushing and decided to let the men talk alone, "I'll, uh, go check on Rory and call Sookie."

John looked at Dean, "What's a Sookie?"

Dean was looking at the table, "She's the chef at the inn. She's probably gonna call and warn her about Sam. And also have her run interference with Michel."

"Who's Michel?"

"Michel is the concierge at the inn and he can be a dick, sometimes. You guys won't fit in with his idea of a proper guest." Dean still had not looked at the man asking the questions.

"Hey kid, look at me when I'm talking to you." John had put on his 'drill sergeant' voice.

Dean looked up at him angrily. "_Don't_ give me orders!"

John rubbed his face and then held up his hands. "Sorry, it's just… your face is my son's face."

"You talk to him like that? He must _love_ it!"

"Yeah, well…" John sighed, he knew that Sam definitely didn't like being spoken to like that, but he couldn't seem to stop doing it. "Look, we started off on the wrong foot. Whether you believe it or not, we're here to help you find the answers. Maybe give you a little payback. I have to know _everything_ that happened, though and just so you know, I'll be telling my sons everything you've told me. They both help me on these cases."

Dean didn't like it, but he nodded and proceeded tell John everything he could remember about that night. John would interrupt with questions every once in a while, but for the most part he just let the kid talk.

"When Rory found out she was pregnant, what did she tell you?"

Dean looked at the floor. "At first, I thought I had raped her, because I couldn't remember. She told me she couldn't remember, but she hadn't been hurt, so it wasn't rape. She only remembered the black smoke."

"I didn't remember the black smoke until about two weeks ago. Lane told Rory she thought it was possession and when Rory heard that, she had some sort of fit."

"Why would this Lane say it was possession?"

Dean shrugged, "Rory was the only one who remembered the smoke, so Lane started to do research. Everything came back to possession, so she found a psychic in Hartford to… I don't know – confirm it. I guess."

John nodded, and then he went on to the next question, "What kind of fit?"

"I don't know. It was over before I got here."

"When the memories unlocked in your head, did you have a fit?"

"I, uh, I was shaking, I… my head hurt really bad while the memories flooded back in, and then I got sick."

John nodded and sighed, "Okay, kid, let's stop there for now. I think you need a break. Go check on your girl."

Dean nodded and got up to leave the room. He stopped for a second. "What was it? Angelina said it wasn't a full demon. What does that even mean?"

John looked at him for a second; trying to decide if the kid could take it. He took a deep breath. "I agree with Angelina. When a full demon possesses someone, they don't give them up without force. Most times, the victim doesn't survive the experience. I don't know what it was that attacked you, but if Angelina says it was something demonic, then I believe her."

John sat there for a few minutes and when Lorelai came back into the kitchen, he was still and quiet. She just looked at him for a moment.

"Is there anything you need?" She had decided that she would need to be civil with these guys while they were in her life.

John just looked at her.

Lorelai was getting antsy. "Do I have something on my face?"

John shook his head, but he continued to stare.

Never one to pass up a challenge and being slightly immature, Lorelai decided to stare back at him. "How long are we shooting for?" She asked. "Are we allowed to blink?"

John just laughed and held up his coffee cup. "Got any more?"

They sat and drank some more coffee and exchanged basic information about themselves, but did not discuss the reason John and his sons were there. John had no information yet to give her and Lorelai was too worn down and sad to talk about it right then.

Finally, John asked, "Is your daughter okay? I remember when Mary was pregnant with the boys; she would nod off to sleep almost any time or any where."

"Mary?"

"My wife."

"Oh" Lorelai recognized the disappointment she felt. "I didn't realize you were married."

"She died." John looked down at his cup. "Almost 18 years ago, now."

"I'm sorry." Lorelai got up with her cup to put it in the sink. She cleared off the rest of the stuff and as she was wiping off the table, she decided to answer John's original question. "Yeah, Rory is fine. I used to fall asleep at the most inauspicious times, too." She smiled, "It made my parents furious! I wasn't upholding social standards." She took the sponge back to the sink and left it there.

"You were 16, too?"

Lorelai nodded and sat back down at the table, "Yeah, Christopher and I were expected to graduate high school, attend Yale or Princeton, marry, eject two perfect children, attend the club for luncheon or golf or tennis, 'own a mansion und a yacht'; etcetera, etcetera. But I got pregnant and provided the escape we both longed for. Just in time, too." She smiled bitterly, "I was going to be displayed at auction in a debutant ball that year."

"Christopher is Rory's dad?"

Lorelai nodded. "He's not handling this very well. He's in California right now and frankly I want him to stay there. I gave him the public version of what happened. I'm positive he won't believe the truth. My parents won't either. They wanted to have Dean arrested for rape. They didn't believe he was a victim in this, too. When I told them not to do that, they accused me of, well, several things and then they told me to leave. So I did."

She ran her hands through her hair, "Why did I tell you that?"

"I have that sort of face."

Lorelai just looked at him, "Yeah."

**GGSPNGGSPN**

Later that evening, Lorelai arranged the private room again so that the Forester family could meet the Winchesters. They were being kept in the loop as much as possible, but they were having a hard time believing that demonic forces had attacked their child and his girlfriend. They much preferred the public story.

When Dean went home to get his parents and sister, he warned them about Sam, but they didn't really believe him.

Lorelai, Rory, Sam, Dean, and John were all in the room waiting for the Foresters to arrive. Lorelai and Rory had gotten over the initial shock of Sam's appearance and were gleefully awaiting the arrival of the Forester clan.

"This should be interesting; a total Parent Trap moment." Rory was whispering.

"Lindsay or Hayley"

"Hayley of course"

"Ah, yes, gotta go with the classics."

Sam, Dean and John were looking at them strangely. They had literally no idea what the girls were talking about.

"Oh, oh! They gotta meet Lane! And Luke!" Rory was showing humour and excitement in the fun of this situation in a way she hadn't shown for months. It took Lorelai's breath away at how much she missed her daughter's normal ebullience.

Rory continued, "Have you spoken to Sookie? How'd she react?"

"I don't know if she saw him or not."

"Well get her in here! But keep her away from the furniture or sharp things."

Lorelai smiled, she agreed that Sookie would probably hurt herself in surprise over seeing Sam Winchester and Dean Forester in the same room.

Lorelai looked over at John Winchester who had been watching the girls and listening to their conversation. He had never encountered anyone who acted like this before. He recognized the look in Lorelai's eyes, though. A look of love, pain, hope, despair and a host of other wishes and dreams every parent has for their child. There was a little bit of relief there, too because, no matter what, Rory would probably be okay.

Rory was practically twitching with excitement. She was dying to see Dean's parent's reaction to Sam's appearance.

Finally, the door opened and Dean stepped into the room. He glanced around until he found Rory and moved toward her. Behind him came his little sister. She would be there for the dinner, but the main discussion would not start until she left. The Foresters had arranged for her to be picked up by her best friend's mom.

She looked around to take in her surroundings and finally spotted Sam, "Holy Cow!"

Sam smiled at her and she moved over toward him, but then she saw Dean and her 10 year old heart took a leap. She was in a complete crush. Instead of greeting Sam, she moved over to Dean and boldly introduced herself. Dean smiled at her, but was disconcerted by her attention. He had no idea how to handle this.

"My name is Clara."

"I'm Dean."

"That's my brother's name."

"I know, but I'm older than him and I had it first."

Clara considered that. "That's true. What do you call him then?"

"We call him 'the kid', because it annoys him."

"He'd beat me up if I called him that."

"Nah, big brothers only threaten to beat up their little siblings, we don't really do it." Dean heard Sam's snort behind him.

"Can I sit by you?" She asked Dean Winchester.

"Do I have to cut your meat for you?"

"No."

"Then yes, you can sit by me."

Clara's face lit up. "Cool!"

John and Sam were both silently laughing at Dean's conversation.

Meanwhile, Barbara and Randy were simply staring at Sam; their mouths were literally hanging open. Lorelai took pity on them.

"Barbara and Randy, this is John, Dean and Sam Winchester. John, Dean and Sam, this is Barbara and Randy Forester. They're Dean's parents. The little lady over there is Clara. She's Dean's little sister."

This show of courtesy by Lorelai allowed the Foresters to regain their composure and pleasantries and handshakes were exchanged.

Barbara moved over to Sam because she just couldn't get over how alike the two boys were.

"Where were you born?" she asked.

Sam looked at the woman in front of him, but saw no similarities between his mother and her. Genetically, there was no reason he and Dean Forester should look so much alike. "Um, I was born in Lawrence, Kansas.

In a distracted voice she said, "Dean was born in Chicago." She was just staring at him, but shook her head a little bit. "I am so sorry for staring. Dean tried to warn us that you and he were identical, but we just couldn't fathom it."

Randy Forester had stopped to talk to John for a few minutes and then moved over to his wife and Sam. "I feel like we should have DNA testing done. But it would be silly. They were born in two different cities."

John had moved over and put his hand on Sam's back. "They were born six months apart, too."

Barbara looked at him. "Who's older?"

"Sam is." John looked at her for a moment. "I know this is a weird question, but… did anything unusual happen when Dean, _your_ Dean, was six months old? That would have been May 2, 1984?"

Barbara and Randy looked at each other for a moment, then back to John. "What sort of unusual?"

John spoke in a low tone because he didn't want the little girl to over hear him. "A break in? Lights flickering? The scent of sulfur?"

Barbara answered, "No, nothing like that. But…"

"But?"

"That was the week our oldest daughter nearly died. She was four years old and had gotten a cold that developed into a really bad strain of viral pneumonia. She was in the ICU unit and I was camped out in the waiting room. I was at the hospital all week with her. I kept Dean with me because I was still nursing him. I remember it so well; it was one of the most frightening times of my life."

Sam had detached himself from that conversation and walked over to Rory and Dean Forester. "Hey you lied to us! You said you'd had a diaper change and was put to bed in your crib."

Dean Forester smiled at the attempt at humour. "What can I say? My memory gets faulty going that far back."

Sam stuck out his hand, "Peace?"

Dean looked at him. "Yeah, sure. Peace." They shook hands.

Rory, who'd been in a good mood all evening, chimed in, "Hey, what about me? Do I get a piece?"

Dean, who recognized the humour, asked, "A piece of what?"

"Pie"

He smiled as he kissed her on the forehead.


	10. Chapter 9

The next day, the Winchesters had arrived at the Gilmore house after lunch. Dean Forester was sitting on the porch and Sam came over to join him. It still wigged them _both_ out to look at each other, but they were starting to discover the subtle differences: Sam's hair was shade darker, Dean's nose was a bit less pointed, Dean was a smidge taller, but Sam was slightly brawnier…

Sam sat down beside his double. He had heard Dean's story the night before, but he had a concern, he sighed, "You know, Dad filled us in on your story last night after dinner and something is bugging me."

"What's that?"

"Rory is a tiny girl compared to you and me."

Dean nodded.

"I know how big I am." Sam was blushing and looking down at the steps beneath him.

Dean looked at him uncomprehendingly.

Sam looked at him again and still blushing he said, "I mean I'm _big_ – in a way that most guys are proud of…"

Dean continued to look at him until finally the light dawned. "Dude, what the hell?"

Sam held up his hand, "Wait a sec." He looked around and peered intently into the screen door until he was certain no one could overhear this conversation.

"A few months ago, last August, we were in this small town in Ohio. I met a girl. She was really pretty and smart and sexy… well she and I hit it off." Sam smiled at Dean, but it was a painful one. "We started dating, even though I knew that I wasn't going to be able to stay around very long.

"The hunt Dad was on was taking a _lot_ longer than he expected it to and it was taking him and Dean all over the area. So I was there long enough to start school. My girl, her name was Alicia, and I were inseparable. I even met her parents." He smiled at the memory. "Now that was a nerve wracking experience. I had never been around anyplace long enough to have to do that. Anyway, we were together for about six weeks and we decided that we loved each other enough to want to express it; even though I had made it clear _again_ that I wouldn't be able to stay much longer." Sam sighed and ran his hands in his hair. "She said she understood, but she said she wanted me to be her first lover. I loved her enough that I wanted her to be my first, too.

"One night, Dean and Dad were both out trying to wrap up the case, and Alicia and I made love."

"Well good for you." Dean was struggling to understand why Sam was telling him this.

"Look, man, there's a point." He looked at Dean and then continued, "I enjoyed it very much. She didn't. I'm big and she was maybe just a little taller than Rory. I hurt her." Sam was once again looking at the ground. "I didn't intend to; I tried to be slow and careful, but a girl's first time… Alicia was sore for awhile."

Dean looked at Sam with a comprehending and horrified look on his face. "I hurt her?"

"You didn't intend to."

"She said nothing happened! Before we knew the truth, that she was pregnant, she said nothing happened! She had to have known!" Dean got up and was pacing around the yard. Guilt and anger were evident on his face.

Sam nodded watching him, "You have to not be angry. I don't know Rory very well, but she doesn't strike me as a liar. There had to have been a reason."

Dean came back and sat down on the porch beside Sam; he had his head in his hands. Sam put his hand on his new friend's shoulder. "You didn't know and you had no control over it, anyway." Sam sighed, "I didn't tell you this so you would get angry, but I don't like secrets much and, well, this was too big to leave alone."

Behind them, hidden in the doorway, Dean stood and listened to the younger boys' conversation. He was feeling proud that his baby brother had been with a girl, but also sad because Sammy never told him.

His relationship with Sam had deteriorated a lot lately. Sam and their dad had been fighting for most of the last two years, putting Dean in the middle and it was affecting the brother's bond.

Dean waited until the younger Dean had walked away and then he left the house to join his brother on the porch.

Sam looked up at him with alarm.

Dean smiled at him, "Speaking of big secrets…"

**GGSPNGGSPN**

Later that evening, Dean waited until Lorelai left the house and he and Rory were alone. They were standing in the kitchen, and Rory looked at Dean. She could see he was really angry and he had been all afternoon.

"Why didn't you say anything?" He started.

"About what?"

"When we didn't remember what happened in the studio… you had to have been in pain when you woke up."

"Oh... no, I wasn't in pain."

"There was pain. A girl's first time is painful." Dean's voice was low.

"There wasn't pain; there was some soreness." She sighed, aware that the secret was out now. "I didn't say anything because I wasn't sure."

"You knew."

"I didn't _know_."

"You knew!"

"I _didn't know_ – I suspected."

"I asked you if I attacked you!" He turned away and stared out the window into the backyard.

"And I answered no!" She started to wring her hands. "Dean… if you _had_ attacked me, there would have been bruising! Look at you! You're so much bigger than me! If I had tried to fight you, there would have been bruises. There weren't any! So, in my mind, whatever happened was consensual."

He turned back around to look at her. "Can I believe you?"

"That's not fair."

"Why did you lie?"

"I didn't lie."

"You told Lorelai that nothing happened."

"I had to."

"What?"

"That night… after you kissed me in Doose's... when Mom invited you over; I went into the bathroom and you and mom talked. What did she say to you? She wouldn't tell me."

Dean sighed, "She told me that if I hurt you, I wouldn't be able to run far enough."

Rory nodded, "I suspected as much." She walked over and grabbed his arms. "Do you understand?"

Dean looked at her, "You were protecting me."

Rory nodded. "I took a shower as soon as possible that morning, too."

He ran his hands throught his hair, "God! I don't know if that's worse or if I should be grateful."

Rory looked at him beseechingly, "Be grateful. My mom is a kind and gentle woman – except when it comes to me."

"By not telling your mom the truth, you risked pregnancy!"

"I know, but it was a risk I had to take!" She sat down at the table.

He crouched down in front of her, "No! Rory! You shouldn't have done that! Protecting me is not worth your whole future!"

"I took the risk! Getting pregnant was not what I wanted, but there was supposed to be a good chance that I _wouldn't_ get pregnant." Rory was holding his hands and just looked at him. "I used the calendar and there was no _reason_ why I got pregnant. It was a bullet I tried to dodge, but the bullet changed trajectory."

Dean had a shocked look on his face, "What the hell do you mean by that?"

She looked down and away and with a blush on her face, she answered, "I mean, my period should have started within a couple of days. According to the calendar, I should have been well inside the infertile range of my cycle. That's why I didn't say anything until I missed my second period." She looked back at him. "You know, after we took the test and after the tears, I realized something."

"What?"

She had a hand on her growing baby bump. "This baby was meant to be." Rory was crying. "But now we know we were possessed by something evil and that changes everything."

"How?"

"_Why_ was this baby meant to be?"

Dean stood up, "Look, we have to tell John about this. This is exactly what he needs to know. Something caused you to become pregnant when you shouldn't have."

Rory was still blushing. "Really? We have to? I have a hard enough time talking to you about it."

"Rory… We have to tell him."

"Do I have to talk with the boys in the room?"

"Well I didn't, so my guess is no."

"You already talked to him? Where was I?"

"Sound asleep on the couch." He smiled at her. "It's probably why you were in such a good mood last night." He took her hand and led her into the living room. "Come on, we'll go after dinner."

**GGSPNGGSPN**

They had called ahead and John arranged for his sons to leave them alone for a while. He'd sent them to the local movie theatre.

At a knock, he checked the hall through the peephole and opened the door.

"Come on in."

Rory and Dean looked around at the room. There was an easel in a corner of the room with newspaper clippings, pictures and other articles. Rory was dying to get a look at them, but she knew now was not the time.

"How can I help you?"

Dean started, "Well Rory has some things to tell you and because you told us we needed to tell you everything…"

John looked at the young girl standing before him. She had removed her coat and he could see that her clothes were loose fitting, but they didn't hide the growing baby bump very well. She was looking tiny and shy, as well. His protective instincts were in high gear over her _and_ the boy beside her."

"Okay" John looked expectantly at the girl standing there. He wouldn't grill her; she would have to tell him herself.

Rory could feel herself blush and was at a loss over where to start.


	11. Chapter 10

"Why don't you start at the beginning?" John prompted. He gestured them to take a seat on the couch. He sat down on the chair.

Rory nodded. "We were at a dance. Dean and I had a great time, but we decided to leave early and get some coffee, maybe take a walk."

John nodded; Dean had told him this yesterday. Rory proceeded to tell him what she remembered about that night, but was again embarrassed about what happened the next morning.

"We were awakened by Miss Patty. There were several women in the studio, too and all of them were babbling about us."

"I left in a hurry and ran home." Rory had skipped over the pertinent part and if she didn't say something soon, Dean was going to interrupt. He let her continue for a few more minutes.

"My mom and I had a really bad fight then. She was insisting that I was going to go on birth control and I kept denying that I needed to." Rory was blushing really hard then and started to speak in a rush. "I was sore… down there… but I looked at the calendar and decided that since my period was supposed to start in a few days, I would be okay. I then took a shower and removed all evidence that Dean and I had had sex. I couldn't remember what exactly happened, so I checked myself. There were no bruises, contusions or anything." She blushed really hard then, "There was… some blood on my underwear, but I threw it out. Otherwise, our clothes were intact, even my stockings were okay. My dress was wrinkled, but I had slept in it. It wasn't torn. I think I would have done _some_ damage to Dean, too, if I had fought him."

Dean stood up and turned away when he heard about the blood. He knew it sometimes happened, but being confronted with the knowledge was killing him.

John looked at her for a moment. He felt a little anger at what she had done and wasn't sure, really, _why_ she had done it.

Rory finished what she wanted to say, "At the time, I had no memory of what happened, but I did have feelings and impressions. I _knew_ this wasn't Dean's fault. I _knew_ he didn't rape me. I couldn't allow him to be blamed or arrested for whatever happened. It's why I didn't want the police to get involved. Then, when we found out Dean and I had been attacked or whatever, I knew that the police would go to the next most likely culprit. I couldn't allow Tristan to be blamed for it, either."

John held up his hand. "Who's Tristan?"

Dean answered, "He's a kid at Rory's school. He has a thing for her and he tried to start a fight with me at the dance."

Rory interjected there, "Even if our cover story were true, Tristan wouldn't have done it. He wouldn't slip a girl some drug or anything like that."

"Rory…"

She turned to Dean, "He's a jerk, but he's not a monster."

John rubbed his hand over his face. "So you did this to protect Dean and Tristan?"

Rory nodded, "And Paris. The police would have looked at her, too. I couldn't risk it."

"Who's Paris?"

"She's a rival at my school."

John had a twisted smile on his face, "Does your mother know you're surrounded by enemies at that school?"

Dean looked at Rory, waiting for her to finish, but she didn't speak.

"You're not done."

Rory looked at him, helplessly.

Dean sighed, "She shouldn't have gotten pregnant."

John looked at Dean intently, "What do you mean?" He turned to Rory.

Rory still wasn't talking.

Dean blushed, "It's something to do with her cycle."

John looked at them comprehendingly. "Oh, that doesn't work."

Finally Rory looked up, "It can, but you have to keep really close track of it. You practically have to have charts and graphs and things."

John just looked at her.

Rory sighed and blushed again. Then she looked down at the floor, "The rhythm method requires that you chart your period, the first day of it. Then you count the days. Most cycles go in a 28 day cycle. A girl starts her period and 28 days later, she should start her next one. About 20 days after a girl starts her period, she should go into an infertile time of the month. This time lasts 5 to 8 days. My cycle was almost always about 28 days long and my period should have started by the Monday following the dance. It didn't. I checked the dates about 10 times!"

She got up and moved around the room. She was so embarrassed she couldn't look at them.

They waited for her to continue.

"When I was 12, I got my first period. My mom was very matter of fact about it. She told me to make a note of it every month. She said if I could see the pattern, I would never be caught by surprise. It became a habit. I always know when my period is going to start. When it didn't, I put it down to the stress I was feeling. We didn't know what had actually happened. I knew we had had sex, though. I just figured it was a manifestation of my fears. But then my next period was late, too. I gave it about a week more and then I told my mom and Dean.

"The infertile period is a medical fact. No woman can get pregnant during that time. All right, there are days at the beginning of the infertile period that, if the estimates are off, a woman can conceive, but I was well within the right time frame. This baby shouldn't be."

John looked at her. He believed her and it put a whole new spin on things. He nodded.

"All right, Rory, have you told Lorelai any of this?"

Rory shook her head. "She's… I've been afraid to. The fight we had that morning was pretty bad. I didn't want another one."

"She needs to know."

Rory nodded dejectedly. "I know."

**GGSPNGGSPN**

Rory was leaning on Dean a little bit when they left. She was both mentally and physically tired. As they were crossing the lobby of the inn, a banquet was ending. Dean left Rory sitting in a chair in the lobby while he went to get the car.

Rory was sitting there with her eyes closed when she heard the most unwelcome sound in the world.

"Rory?"

Rory opened her eyes to see Paris Geller standing over her.

"Oh, God!" Rory winced. "I don't have the energy for you tonight. What are you doing here?"

"My father's Masonic Lodge Father-Daughter Banquet was tonight. It's the only time I get to spend with him alone, so it doesn't matter that most of the 'daughters' in there have no biological link to the 'daddies' they're with."

"Well there's the door. I'll see you later."

Ignoring her comment, Paris looked at her with a snarky smile. "You couldn't take it could you? You dropped out because the pressure was too much. You know, I never figured you for a quitter. That's just pathetic."

Unable to resist defending herself, Rory answered, "I didn't drop out, I withdrew and it had nothing to do with stress. I expect to come back next year."

"Two girls dropped out of Chilton in the last two weeks, you and Jennifer McCauley, a senior. She's pregnant, but she was always a stupid girl; it was only a matter of time. Whenever it happens, there's an assembly for the girls; they tell us it's because the girl is ill, but that's just a euphemism for pregnant. Then they give us a 'refresher course' in methods of birth control, mainly pushing abstinence. This time there was an assembly for everyone. It was all about date-rape dru –"

Rory just looked at her.

The light dawned on Paris' face, "Oh my God! Your boyfriend?"

Rory shook her head, "No, Dean –"

Paris didn't wait for an answer, "Are you alright?"

"I'm fi –"

"I'll kill him!"

"Paris –"

"I know people."

"No! Paris –"

Just then Sam and Dean Winchester came into the lobby. They spotted Rory and moved over to greet her.

When Paris saw Sam she went ballistic and she moved to stand between Rory and Sam. "You've got a nerve! Showing your face here. How do you live with yourself? You're a monster!"

Sam was immediately angry at this girl blaming him for something he hadn't done, "What the hell are you talking about?"

Dean was watching the girl yelling at his brother, but since he knew Sam could handle himself, he waited to see what she would do.

Rory started to stand up, but Paris held out her hand to stop her. Then she turned and pushed Sam in the middle of his chest to back him up.

Sam had been taught not to hit girls, but this was getting personal and he started toward her.

Dean put a hand on his brother's arm to bring him around to look at him. "Look at the girl, she's protecting Rory."

Sam looked at his brother and then glanced over at the girls. He took a deep breath and nodded.

Meanwhile Rory finally stood up, "Paris, that's not Dean!" she shouted.

Paris finally heard Rory shouting at her. "Dean has a twin?"

"No, he has a double."

At that point, Dean Forester came into the lobby. When he saw Paris, he knew something had happened.

He walked over to the small group. He sighed, "Paris what are you doing here?"

Paris was looking back and forth between Sam Winchester and Dean Forester. "Are you related?"

The boys looked at her and shook their heads.

"It's genetically impossible for two unrelated people to look that much alike. You _have_ to be related."

Rory grabbed Paris' arm and turned her around. "Listen to me and stop jumping to conclusions! My Dean and Sam Winchester are not related. I did not leave Chilton because of stress or illness. On the night of the dance, Dean and I left early, we stopped and had coffee when we got back to the Hollow. At some point we – _ingested_ something. End of story."

"That's _not_ the end of the story."

"It is for you."

Paris looked down at the floor; she nodded and asked quietly, "Is there anything you need? Are you back at high school here?"

"No, Dean and I are being home-schooled. And no, I don't need anything."

"Why are you being home-schooled?"

"Because people are blaming Dean."

"What?"

"I wasn't handling the situation very well and I couldn't continue to hide something. You know Paris, now that you're here to be the town crier, everyone will know."

"Know what?"

"Jeesh, Paris! I never figured you for being dense!" Rory moved her hand over her stomach and revealed the small baby bump.


	12. Chapter 11

Paris immediately knew what she was seeing and turned around to Dean Forester. Before she could take two steps toward him, Dean Winchester stopped her.

"Whoa there, little girl; you aren't making any more of a scene than you already have. He's no more guilty than Sam here is."

"Who are you?" Paris demanded angrily. "And _don't_ call me little girl. I'm 16 and my name is Paris!"

"I'm Dean Winchester, this is my brother Sam. We're the sons of the man Lorelai hired to investigate what happened."

"Oh, okay, what have you found out so far?"

"I… uh"

"How long have you been here?"

"A day and a half."

"I see. So in a day and a half all you've learned is 'I… uh'?" She turned around to Rory and Dean. "When these buffoons fail to find anything out, let me know. My father keeps a private investigator on retainer to keep an eye on his mistresses. He's pretty good; he catches them every time."

Dean was starting to really like this girl. Too bad she was jail bait… "Listen, _Little Girl_, what makes you think you have the right to know anything we've found out?"

"Because I'm smarter than you and I can grasp concepts you can't."

Dean reared back at that. He raised his eyebrows at the girl in front of him. "I oughta take you up on that –"

"Dean" Sam interjected.

Without taking his eyes off the girl, Dean raised his hand in acknowledgement. He leaned over Paris and pointed to Sam. "See that boy over there?"

She nodded.

"He's smarter than you and Rory put together. He'll be right here helping us figure out all the hard clues."

"Dean" Sam interjected again.

Dean looked at Dean and Rory, "Goodnight guys." He turned to Paris and gave her a dangerous smile, "Goodnight _Little Girl_. I'll see ya upstairs Sam." He walked away.

Sam looked at Paris and smiled, but it wasn't a pleasant one. "He likes you because you tried to protect Rory, but don't insult his intelligence again. He's not pleasant when he gets really pissed. In two years, though…" He turned to Rory and Dean. "Goodnight guys, I'll see you tomorrow."

Paris turned to Rory and Dean. "What did he mean, 'In two years'?" They just shrugged, although Dean was smiling a bit.

Dean put his arm around Rory, "Come on, the car's running."

Paris stopped them, "Rory, if you need anything…"

Rory looked at her. Somehow she knew the right story would circulate at Chilton now, "Thanks, Paris"

Rory was quiet on the way home from the inn. She knew that telling her mom would cause a lot of problems and she just couldn't face it.

"I'm gonna tell Mom, Dean."

"I know."

"But I can't face it tonight."

Dean sighed, "I know." He reached over and took her hand. "But you need to tell her soon. She may figure it out on her own and that won't be pretty."

"None of this is pretty."

**GGSPNGGSPN**

The next morning, Max Medina was scheduled to arrive at 9 o'clock. Rory and Lorelai were up early for different reasons. Lorelai was looking forward to seeing the man and Rory was looking forward to getting back to a schedule for her education. She hadn't slept well the night before, though, so even though she was happy about Mr. Medina's visit, she was tired and a little distracted.

Max noticed how preoccupied Rory was, but he put it down to the fact that she was pregnant. He gave her the assignments she had missed and talked to her about one of the books he had assigned the class before she left. They had a good discussion and when he left, Rory moved to the kitchen table to start her work.

Lorelai, who had left them alone while he was there, followed him out of the house to talk to him.

"So, Rory is looking okay. Is she?" Max was genuinely fond of Rory and wanted to know she would be fine. "And you, are you okay?"

Lorelai nodded, "She has good days and bad; me too."

"Yeah, well I guess that's normal."

Lorelai tried to smile and scoffed a little bit, "There's nothing normal about this."

He sighed, "No, probably not. What did the police say?"

Lorelai ran her hands through her hair. "By the time we knew something had actually happened, there was no evidence. Because of that, Rory asked not to involve them. She didn't want Dean blamed. She didn't want the scrutiny, either."

Max looked at her strangely, "She didn't know anything had happened?"

"No, she was positive. We had a fight that morning and she practically screamed it at me. Why?"

Max realized that perhaps he'd said more than he should, "Oh, no reason." He turned to go to his car.

Lorelai was looking at his face and read his expression. It was shouting 'uh oh' at her. "Wait a minute! Why did you ask?"

Max was standing my his car and looked at the ground, "Nothing Lorelai, it's –"

"Oh, it's something…" Lorelai walked up to him. "Look, if you know something, you have to tell me!" Max looked around to avoid eye contact with her, but she grabbed his arm. "Please! What is it?"

Finally he relented, "Look, Lorelai, do you remember how you felt after your first time?"

She looked at him in shock. This was way more personal than they had ever gotten. It seemed a bit early in their relationship to discuss… "I felt elated, nervous, a little disappointed, 'cause it hurt…" The light dawned and Lorelai's face shut down. "She knew."

Max knew he had caused a mountain of trouble and he was reluctant to leave it right then. "Lorelai…" He reached for her arms.

Lorelai shrugged him off and raised her hands. "She lied to me."

Max tried again to take her arms. "I don't know Rory as well as you, but I know she isn't a liar. There was a reason. You need to ask her for her reason!"

"I can't think! I trusted her and she lied to me! And now she's pregnant! If she had told me the truth, I would have taken her to a doctor and this could have been prevented."

"Lorelai…"

Lorelai looked at the man before her. At that moment she hated him and everyone else in the world. The one person she trusted implicitly had lied to her.

Without speaking, she turned and walked back into the house.

She knew she was too angry to talk to Rory, but didn't want to wait either. She walked into the kitchen.

She stood behind a chair across from her daughter, "You know, it's dawned on me that we haven't talked about something…"

Rory looked at her, she could see there was something major on her mother's mind, but couldn't guess what it was. "I think we've covered everything."

"Well no, there's one thing we haven't talked about. It's a really big deal…" She sat down in a chair. "Of course, you were robbed and this magical time in a girl's life was turned into something ugly for you."

"Mom, what are you talking about?"

"Your first time with a man."

"Oh… I don't really want to talk about that." Rory was starting to regret not telling Lorelai, because she had a feeling Lorelai knew.

Ignoring that, Lorelai continued, "I remember my first time. It was with your dad…"

Rory felt alarm, "Mom! I really don't want to hear about it!"

Continuing to ignore Rory, Lorelai went on, "Of course, it wasn't the best time I'd ever had, despite the care Christopher took; it still hurt." Lorelai looked her daughter in the eye. "I was sore for days."

Rory looked at her books on the table in front of her. "Mom…"

"You knew." Lorelai accused. "You knew and you lied to me."

"Mom…" Rory tried to start explaining.

Lorelai interrupted, "You knew and you looked me in the eye and flat out said nothing happened. You wouldn't let me take you to a doctor. If you had gone to a doctor, we could have prevented this pregnancy! You wouldn't be 16 and pregnant and your whole future wouldn't be in complete jeopardy!"

Rory was getting mad, too. "And what would have happened to Dean? You know you would have had him arrested! Or at least tried to! It would have destroyed him! An accusation of rape would have followed him around forever! And if you hadn't done it, Richard and Emily would have! And you _know_ it!

"You were protecting Dean?"

"Yes!" Rory had tears in her eyes, but she was fighting them. "I looked at myself as I ran home. I was not hurting anywhere else! My clothes were intact! I knew in my mind that Dean was not at fault! I couldn't remember, but I had a strong impression that Dean was. not. guilty!

"Then I got home and I overheard the argument you and Grandma had. She was telling you I would get pregnant, that I would disappoint you the way you disappointed her. I just couldn't tell you. I didn't want to disappoint you."

Rory took a deep breath, trying to fight the sobs that were coming.

"So I checked the calendar, confirmed that my period was due to start in about 3 days and I took a shower and washed away any evidence that anything had happened. But my period didn't come. I was freaking out and telling myself that nerves and fear had stopped it that month. Then I waited again and the next month, nothing. And I knew. Despite the fact that I shouldn't have conceived, I did.

Lorelai looked at her daughter. "I need some time." She got up and walked away.

Rory abandoned her attempts to work and left the house. She needed to talk to Lane and stop her from having any sort of fight with her mother. As she was walking to her friend's house, she was aware that people were staring at her and whispering. She just kept her head down and ignored everyone.

As she approached Lane's house, she could see that the antiques store was open for customers. She went into the house and called Lane's name. Mrs. Kim popped out from behind a large cupboard and immediately moved toward her.

"You will leave!"

Rory just stared at her. "What?"

"You will leave, now!"

"What? Why?" The tears Rory had fought back before were making a comeback.

"You will _not_ talk to Lane. Ever again."

Rory realized that Mrs. Kim was seriously kicking her out. Since she had decided not to let Lane argue with her mother, she just nodded. She turned around and walked out of the store.

She tried to fight the tears, but they were coming down anyway. She didn't see where she was going until she realized that she was standing in front of Doose's Market. She could see Dean in the store working, stocking the shelves. She turned and walked away. Since she didn't know where she was going, she just walked. Without paying much attention, she found herself at the inn. She walked in and moved over to the stairs and went up to the Winchester's suite.


	13. Chapter 12

Sam was alone in the suite while Dean and John had gone to a library in Hartford. Since he was better at research on the computer, they had left him there to see what he could come up with. He had hooked up their iBook to the hotel's high speed connection and was busy working, when there was a knock at the door. After he checked through the peephole, he opened it to find Rory standing there.

Rory knew that John had probably told his sons everything she told him last night and she blushed. "My mom found out."

Sam nodded and then reached out and grabbed her hand. He led her over to the couch and sat her down.

"She didn't take it very well."

Sam was trying to decide what to do. He briefly considered calling his brother, but wasn't in the mood to handle Dean's 'well-meaning advice'. All of the Winchesters had the names and numbers of everyone involved in this case, so he decided to call her Dean, but he waited.

"I decided to go talk to Lane, because she needs to know too, I guess; but her mom kicked me out. I thought about what Lane's and her mother's relationship was like. Lane obeys her parents because she loves and respects them, but also because it creates less friction. Lane was going to fight to stay by my side even though she knew how her mother would react.

Sam was worried about Rory's demeanor. She was staring at the floor and her voice was deadened. He got up to get her some water.

She continued, "I couldn't let her do that, hurt her relationship with her mom, since this was my fault."

Sam looked up at that and for the first time he spoke, "It wasn't your fault."

"Yes it is, I got pregnant because I lied. Therefore, it's my fault. I'm 16, Dean is 17; we're practically babies and now we're having one. I totally screwed my future and Dean's. He won't go to college, he'll get a crappy job and he'll hate it, he'll start to resent me for his unhappiness; it's all my fault."

Quietly, Sam asked, "Is it his fault, too?"

"No!"

"It was his body that got you pregnant. If they had done an exam, it would have been his DNA they would have found. There were no drugs in his system, either. No one would have believed your cover story, so whatever happened, you know they would have blamed him; maybe not the police, but everyone else in this town."

"He wasn't in control!"

"Neither were you." Sam got up to pace the room. "As I understand it, you were trying to protect him because somehow you knew he was there, but that he wasn't in control."

"Yes, but if I had told Mom that something had happened, but I didn't know what…"

"She would have called Dean's parents. How would he _or you_ have proved that he _hadn't_ forced you? I can tell your mom is very protective of you. You know as well as I, an accusation of rape is just as bad as a conviction in small towns."

"How many small towns have you lived in?"

"Lived in? None, but I've visited plenty. We travel around the country and we've been in smaller communities than this. Dean, Dad and I have never failed to be amazed at the network of gossips and busybodies living in them. I guarantee you that Dean would have been tried and convicted within days; with or without proof and with or without your defense of him. It's already happening. He had to be removed from school, didn't he?"

Rory didn't say anything.

"What you did was protect Dean as well as you possibly could. You didn't think you would get pregnant."

"Tell that to Mom."

"I will if you want me to."

Rory shook her head. "No, it won't matter. I already did."

"What did she say?

"She got up and left. She said she needed time."

"Well, give it to her."

Rory nodded. She started to get up from the couch, but was dizzy and fell back down.

Alarmed, Sam stood up, "Rory!"

Rory held up her hand, "I'm alright."

He grabbed a phone, "No, you aren't! Who should I call? Dean or Lorelai?"

"Neither, Dean is at work. I don't need anyone called."

"When did you last eat?"

Rory's head was still spinning, and she answered vaguely, "Breakfast."

Sam didn't know much about pregnant women, but this was alarming, "Rory it's after 2!"

"Oh"

Sam went ahead and called Dean's house and left a message since he wasn't home yet. Then he called room service and had food sent up.

An hour later, Dean Forester arrived. He looked at Rory who was lying on the couch. She appeared to be asleep. Sam pulled him aside and let him know that Lorelai was aware of what really happened. He explained that Lorelai hadn't taken it well. He told Dean that Rory was blaming herself and that Lane's mother had kicked her out of their house.

Dean sighed, "The hits kept coming didn't they? Why didn't she come to me?"

"I think because you were at work. She didn't want me to call you, either."

Dean rubbed his face and nodded.

Sam continued. "I'm sorry. She told me not to call you, but I would have anyway. She nearly fainted."

Dean looked up in alarm, "What?"

Sam nodded, "I think she walked out here and this inn isn't exactly within walking distance. She also told me she hadn't eaten since breakfast. So I ordered some food, but she didn't eat much of it. I asked her to lie down and at least she did that. I think you should take her to a doctor."

Dean nodded and went over to the couch. "My car is outside; can you help me get her to it?" Dean was a little angry at the other people involved. Then he asked, "Will you call Lorelai?" When Sam nodded, he added, "Wait about an hour first, though."

Sam nodded again and Dean picked up his sleeping girlfriend. She must have been exhausted, because Rory didn't wake up and only curled her arms around Dean's shoulders.

Sam led them from the room and to the elevator. When they got to the lobby, they attracted stares. Few people had seen Dean Forester and Sam Winchester together and they were gaping because they were carrying a limp Rory from the hotel. The boys ignored everyone as they passed through. Sam helped Dean get Rory into the car and then he returned to his room. Dean drove Rory to the nearest emergency room.

An hour and a half later and after five conversations with "well meaning" friends, Lorelai arrived at the hospital. Once there, she was directed to the exam room her daughter was in. As she approached she could here Dean and Rory talking.

"– could stay in my sister's room."

"No, I don't want to put your family out. Besides, when she finds out, your mom will hate me, too."

"I told her last night. She doesn't hate you."

"What did she say?"

"She said, and I quote, 'I figured'."

"She wasn't mad?"

"I think she was grateful. She knew you had only done it to protect me. She's sorry about the timing, though."

There was silence in the room until Lorelai realized her daughter was crying. She leaned against the wall for a moment and then walked away. There was a bench in the hall and she sat down on it. She would give them a few minutes.

A doctor approached her while she was sitting there.

"Are you Ms. Gilmore?"

The doctor, a pretty woman, about 33 years old, was standing beside her chair and Lorelai nodded.

"I'm Dr. Franks." Gesturing to the bench, the doctor said, "You mind if I sit?"

Lorelai shook her head.

She sat down and sighed, then turned to Lorelai, "I examined your daughter and she's fine, but I wouldn't release her until I got a chance to speak to you."

Lorelai didn't look at the doctor, but she nodded, "Okay."

"Rory arrived here weak and emotional. She could hardly speak and her boyfriend had to explain what happened."

Lorelai only nodded again.

"He told us that she had had a fight with you and had lost her best friend. He also explained that she hadn't had much to eat today and had taken a very long walk." She waited for a response from Lorelai, but all she got was another nod. "After I ordered some food for her, her energy picked up, but she remains emotional. I did not have to prescribe any meds, but I did talk to her and Dean about healthy eating habits during this time."

Again she waited for a response, but didn't get one. So she continued, "From Dean's reaction, I'm guessing that healthy eating habits are not the norm in your house."

Lorelai's voice was quiet, "We eat fine."

"So you have vegetables and fruit available for Rory at all times for snacks?"

"No, she doesn't eat them."

"Well you should encourage her to eat them for the health of the baby."

Lorelai was starting to get angry. She finally looked at the woman, "Look doctor, I know how to take care of my kid."

"Yes, well, having an argument with her and then walking out isn't exactly the best care."

"She lied to me! If she had told me the truth, this pregnancy could have been prevented."

"That's in the past and what's done is done." The doctor replied. "She can't go back and fix it, so now you _all_ have to deal with this and getting her angry and upset won't help."

Dr. Franks took a deep breath, "Rory and Dean are in the room waiting for her to be discharged. She's tired and upset. She should eat some more and get to bed early. Perhaps in the morning you can talk it out. It would be best if you didn't discuss it again, though, until you can both talk calmly." She got up and looked down at Lorelai. "I'll have the nurse bring the discharge papers."

Lorelai got up and moved over to her daughter's room, and then taking a deep breath, she knocked and entered.

**GGSPNGGSPN**

Sam was working on the computer when his dad and Dean arrived back. He couldn't find anything on-line that could even remotely explain what had happened to Dean and Rory last December.

"Did you find anything?" He asked them when they came in.

Dean shook his head in the negative, "You?" John went into his bedroom.

"Nope" Sam moved over to the couch and sat down. He rubbed his face and looked at his brother. "I had a visitor today. It was Rory. She looked… destroyed."

Dean sat down across from Sam. He had a concerned look on his face. "What happened?"

"Lorelai found out before Rory could tell her and it did not go well." Sam leaned back and looked at the ceiling. "Then apparently her best friend's mother kicked her out of their house and told Rory not to contact Lane again. After that, she went to Dean, but he was working, so she started walking and ended up here. Meanwhile, all she had to eat today was breakfast and she almost fainted when she tried to leave."

Dean had an alarmed look on his face, "Jesus! Is she okay?"

Sam shook his head. "I called Dean and then I ordered some food sent up. Rory didn't eat much of it before she fell asleep on the couch. Dean came about an hour later and took her to the hospital. I haven't heard back from him, yet."

Dean called out to their dad. "Dad, you hearing this?"

"Yeah, son, I'm listening." John stepped out of the other room. "I'll call Lorelai later to see how she is." Then he sat down beside Sam and patted him on the knee. "It sounds like you handled things just fine, son."

Sam just nodded.


	14. Chapter 13

At dinner, the three Winchester men sat in the small dining room and tried unsuccessfully to discuss the case. They were aware, however, that they were being stared at by the staff and some of the guests as well.

"You know Dad, Angelina gave us the only clue we have." Dean began; he was going to broach a sticky subject and figured doing it in public would be best.

John nodded.

Dean continued, "We do have a demon expert, we can call."

At that, John became angry, "No."

"Come on, Dad, he knows everything about everything when it comes to demons."

"No!"

Sam had been listening to this exchange and knew who Dean was talking about. He missed visiting Bobby, because when they were at Bobby's house he could pretend he was home. It was the only thing stable in his life and his dad had screwed it up. The fight between the two men was the beginning of most of the trouble between him and his dad. He chimed in, "I agree with Dean, Dad. He knows everything; he has books that are really old and rare. He could probably tell us what attacked the kids and maybe how to fix it."

"Well it can't _be_ fixed, not entirely." John looked at his plate and muttering to himself, "I don't know what I'd do if one of you came home and told me that you'd gotten some girl…" He shook his head. "No, don't bother going on about it, we aren't going to call Bobby.

Dean looked at Sam, then at his dad, "What are you talking about? Neither Sam nor I has knocked up a girl." Unable to resist, "Have we, Sam?"

John looked up at that. "I didn't say you had. I'm just saying… it's a problem that can't be fixed easily." Then he got a look at Sam's face. "Ah hell, Sam you need to tell me something?"

Sam, whose face was a combination of horror and fear, blushed and answered, "What? No!" Then he gave his brother a kick under the table.

Dean felt guilty, but the distraction worked. His dad hadn't _exactly_ ordered him not to call Bobby.

That night, after dinner, Dean announced that he needed to make a phone call. Sam and John just assumed it was to a girl. He left the room and went down to the lobby. He found a quiet corner and made the call.

"_Yeah?"_

"Bobby, its Dean Winchester. I need your help."

"_It's good to hear from you, boy. How's Sam? Where's your dad?"_

"Sam's fine; he and Dad are up in the room."

"_He know you're callin'?"_

"No"

Bobby sighed on the other end of the line. _"What do ya need?"_

Dean proceeded to tell the older man everything he knew about the case. He'd made a copy of his dad's notes and he read off of them sometimes.

Bobby listened intently and when Dean was done he said, _"Send me the notes you have. This sounds familiar."_

"I'll fax a copy right now.

"_I'll get back to ya. Take care kid."_

"Yeah, you too, Bobby."

They hung up and after sending the fax, Dean went into the bar for a drink or two.

Meanwhile, John had gone into his bedroom to call Lorelai.

"_Hello?"_

"Hi, Lorelai, it's John. Sam told us about Rory; she doin' okay?"

"_Yeah, she's fine. She's asleep."_

"How are you doing?"

"_Well, I've been better."_

"Yeah"

"_John, you're a parent. What would you do if your boys lied to you with such catastrophic consequences?"_

"Frankly we're together so much I don't think they have much opportunity, but I suppose I'd make them sorry for it. They do keep stuff from me, though."

"_I think she's sorry since she ended up in the hospital. The doctor and Dean both tried to make me feel guilty and it worked; I do feel guilty, but I also feel hurt and angry."_

"This situation is stressful enough for everyone involved without pointing fingers and assigning guilt, but I don't blame you for feeling hurt and angry."

Wanting to change the subject, Lorelai asked, "_Have you found out anything yet?"_

"No, we haven't, not yet. We're still looking; we haven't given up." He sighed, "Look, go to bed, or watch TV or read or whatever. Tomorrow will be better and hopefully we'll have some answers then."

"_Yeah, ok. Hey, thanks for calling."_

"You're welcome. I'm glad Rory is feeling better."

"_Thanks. Goodnight"_

"Goodnight Lorelai."

John hung up the phone, sighed and rubbed his face. Now he had to talk to Sam…

**GGSPNGGSPN**

The next morning, the Winchesters were having breakfast in the small dining room and again, they were attracting stares from everyone.

Dean was finding it a tad creepy, "Jeesh, why are they all staring?" he muttered.

"Probably Sam." John replied. "You know we should check out the genealogies of our families. I don't think I've ever seen two people who weren't related look so exactly alike – outside of a supernatural reason, of course."

"That bitch the other night said it was genetically impossible. Remember Sam?"

Sam just looked at him and didn't speak. He was seriously pissed at Dean for what happened last night.

Dean noticed how angry Sam was. "Look, Sam…" he began.

Just then Dean's phone buzzed. Dean looked at the number and smiling, he got up from the table and walked away. John and Sam were both used to this behavior, since Dean never talked to girls while he was with his family.

But it wasn't a girl. Dean moved over to the alcove where the restrooms were and answered the phone.

"Bobby? What the hell? Did you stay up all night?"

"_Yeah; I think I know what attacked those kids" _Said Bobby_._

"Okay" Telling Bobby not to stay up all night doing research was futile and Dean didn't bother telling him not to do it again for him.

"_I think it was an Imp."_

"A what?"

"_An Imp."_

Impatiently, Dean demanded, "What the hell is an Imp?"

_"Well, in Germanic Folklore, they're mischievous creatures; but in reality, an Imp is like an intern or apprentice."_

"An intern or apprentice to what?"

"_Usually an upper level demon; they're sometimes sent top-side to perform specific functions"_

Dean rubbed his forehead, "What the hell are you talking about?"

Bobby sighed, _"Look, no one knows how a demon is made, but they don't come out of the pit full grown. They learn the trade so to speak. Usually an Imp will come topside, perform some sort of evil and then return to Hell. After that, depending on their performance, they gain the rank of full demon. They can then take on other, more long-term, assignments topside."_

"If they're demons, why did they let Rory and Dean go?"

"_I don't know. It's possible they can't control a human host for long or they were told to let their victims go."_

"Do they have full control over a body?"

"_What do you mean?"_

"I mean Rory shouldn't have gotten pregnant. She told Dad that she was in the infertile days of her monthly cycle."

"_Yeah, I would think they'd have complete control over the body and can cause all sorts of things to happen, even internally. Look, when you try to shoot a demon, the body doesn't bleed or die, does it? Same thing with an Imp." _He continued, _"It also explains their memory loss."_

"What do you mean?"

"_If an upper level demon went to the trouble to make a girl pregnant, he wouldn't want her to remember anything until it was too late to do anything about it."_

"Jesus, Bobby, why would an upper level demon make a young girl pregnant?"

"_I assume it's because he wants that baby to be born."_

"Son of a Bitch!" Dean wiped his hands over his face. "Look, I gotta tell Dad what you told me."

"_Have fun with that."_

"Yeah, thanks Bobby. Hey, get some sleep."

Bobby ignored that, _"Say hello to Sam for me."_

"Will do; talk to ya later."

Dean hung up the phone and returned to the table. He was not looking forward to telling his Dad what he'd found out or _how_ he'd found out about it. He also had another dicey subject he needed to discuss with John and decided both of those topics should be taken together.

For the next discussion with his Dad, Dean decided to wait until they got to the room. Sam had announced that he wanted to take a walk and left them in the lobby. Dean was happy about that because he wanted to have this 'discussion' with his dad in private.

When they got back to the room, Dean decided to start with something he'd had on his mind for awhile now. "Sammy needs to go somewhere and settle for a few months."

John looked up at that, slightly alarmed, "What the hell do you mean?"

Dean swallowed nervously, "I mean, I think he needs to stay with Bobby for awhile and finish high school. It's only for a couple of months."

John shook his head angrily, "No."

"It's important to him. It'll give him a chance to make some friends, maybe go to prom – if he hasn't missed it, and have an actual graduation ceremony; live a normal life for awhile."

"No, he doesn't need that." John was looking at Dean with anger.

"No, _I_ didn't need that." Dean walked over and stood at the window. "Sam _wants_ that more than anything." He sighed, "You know as well as I do that your problems with Sam started after your argument with Bobby; when he no longer felt he had a home."

John didn't answer.

Dean pressed on, "He needs it, Dad, and you know it. And you know he'll be safe there. Bobby knows more than anyone how to keep Sam safe, even you."

John nodded, but he couldn't bear the thought of not having his youngest son with him where he could protect him. "I'll consider it."

Dean knew that John would keep his word and hopefully Sam could go to Bobby's after they were done here.

**AN: How I decided on Imp is too convoluted to go into, suffice it to say the Car had something to do with it... Meanwhile, I googled 'Imps' on Wikipedia 'The ultimate Source of all Information on the Internet' (joke) and came up with _nothing_ like what I have here. Also, imps are never mentioned on SPN, so no cannon info exists, either. So, my Imps are an entirely made up demonic creature. Let me know what you think. Thanks, Sali.**


	15. Chapter 14

Dean waited for a second and then approached the next topic nervously. "I think I know what attacked Rory and the kid."

"What?" John sat down and was starting to look over his notes, but he looked up at his son.

Dean stood there fidgeting, "I think it was an Imp."

John looked surprised and intrigued, "What the hell are you talking about?"

"An Imp," He proceeded to tell John everything Bobby had told him.

"Did you find this Imp thing yesterday? Why didn't you say anything? Where are your notes? Let me see." John was holding out his hand.

Dean shook his head, "No, I found out… this morning."

John dropped his hand and started to look angry, "The phone call?"

Dean nodded.

John was looking at Dean with a deadly calm face, "You called him, didn't you?"

Dean nodded again. He was looking at the floor.

John was instantly angry. "Dammit, Dean! I ordered you not to call him!"

"No sir, you didn't."

John was surprised by that, "What? Yes I did."

"No, sir, you didn't _order me _not to call Bobby." Dean was shaking his head and looking at the floor.

John stopped and thought back over their conversation last night. He remembered where the discussion about Bobby derailed. "You threw Sam under the bus to distract me from finishing that conversation."

"Yes sir." Dean looked guilty; he knew he had to apologize to his brother and try to explain.

John's voice was low and deadly, "You know that was low."

Dean nodded.

John got up and turned away from his son. He was seriously pissed. "Get out of the room for awhile. Go find Sam and apologize."

Dean hated it when his dad was angry with him, but when it came to Bobby, John had a blind spot. He looked at his dad for a few more seconds, waiting for something, and then, when he didn't get it, he started to leave.

"Tell Sam he can go to Bobby's for the rest of the school year."

Dean sighed and nodded. Then he left. All he ever wanted was for his dad to love him like he had… before everything had happened.

**GGSPNGGSPN**

Because Sam was the object of so much scrutiny, Dean was able to get directions from a bellhop in the lobby as to where Sam may have gone.

Meanwhile, Sam had been walking and found the horses in a paddock out behind the inn. One came over to the fence and Sam moved over to pat him. There was never any opportunity to learn to ride one of these things and he'd always wanted to.

The horse, a Red Dun, was friendly and enjoyed the attention he got. So Sam was able to touch him and pet his neck. The horse nudged him looking for treats, but Sam didn't have anything.

Dean stood back and watched his brother with the horse and then turned and approached the barn. There he found an employee who gave him some carrots. He went back out to Sam.

"Here" he handed the carrots to Sam. Sam looked at him, but didn't say anything. He took the carrots, though, and started to give them to the horse one at a time.

"I want to tell you something." Dean began.

Sam tried to ignore him.

"I called Bobby."

Sam looked at him, surprised; Dean never went against orders. He turned back around and began to pet the horse again. "Dad said not to."

"No, he didn't actually say not to." Dean smiled slightly. "Anyway, he researched all night and he thinks he found the answer."

Sam still didn't say anything, but Dean could tell he was listening, so he continued, "He thinks it was an Imp."

Sam turned again to look Dean. Despite how pissed he was at his brother, his curiosity was killing him. "What's an Imp?"

"Bobby called it an intern to an upper level demon."

"What the hell does that mean?" He was irritated that he couldn't suppress his interest.

Dean grinned at Sam's language, "Bobby says they come topside and perform some evil task on the orders of a higher level demon."

Sam was confused, "Why would they make a girl pregnant? How evil is that?"

"He said the demon that sent them probably wanted the baby to be born."

Sam looked at the ground. "Shit"

Dean nodded, "Yeah"

Sam was still petting the horse, he turned around to look at it, "I wonder…"

"What?"

Sam glanced back over his shoulder at Dean, "Did you tell Bobby about how much Dean and I look alike?"

Dean shook his head, "I didn't, I figured it was just a weird coincidence. Do you think it has something to do with this?"

"I don't know. Have you told Dad?" Sam abandoned the idea that was forming. It was probably nothing.

"Yeah, and he's a little pissed at me." Dean gave a slight smile. "And by 'a little', I mean 'a lot'."

Sam nodded, after he gave the horse the last carrot, the dun left looking for more snacks. Sam turned and walked away, he was still 'a little' pissed at Dean, too.

"Sam" Dean followed, "I also talked to him about you."

Instantly, Sam was angry again, he whirled around a looked at his brother with fury, "Yeah? You got more information about me to tell him, Dean?"

Dean grabbed his arm to stop him. "No, Sammy! I grabbed the first distraction I could think of. I threw you to the wolves and… I really am sorry."

Sam wasn't ready to forgive him and he threw off Dean's hand, "When you left the room last night, Dad went into his room. I thought: maybe he won't say anything, but then he came out… We had 'The Talk', Dean!"

Dean was fighting a smile; it would not be a good idea at this time, "Did you explain that I'd already had 'The Talk' with you, like two years ago?"

"I tried! He decided to make sure I understood everything and then he asked me if I had any questions! After that, we had a long conversation about being safe. It felt like hours before he felt he'd covered everything." Sam rubbed his face.

Dean was still trying not to smile, "Jesus, Sammy, I'm sorry, but let me make it up to you."

"You can't."

"I bet I can…" Dean started to walk away. Sam, who could never leave comments like that alone, followed. Dean finally let the smile out. Then he continued, "As I said, I talked to Dad about you."

Sam sighed, "What about?"

"I told him he needed to send you to Bobby." He continued to walk in front of Sam, keeping his face turned away.

"What? What do you mean?" Sam's heart was picking up.

Dean stopped and looked at his brother, "I mean, when we wrap up this case, we'll take you to Bobby's and you can finish high school there."

"No! Seriously?"

Dean smiled, "Yeah."

"Will you be staying too?" Sam had the first genuinely happy smile on his face that Dean had seen in a long time.

Dean's smile slipped a little. "No, man, I'll stay with Dad."

Instantly Sam's smile disappeared. "Dean…"

Dean put his hand on Sam's shoulder and shook him a little, "Hey, Sam you know I belong on the road; you belong in a house. This is your chance." Dean started to walk again. "We'll be back after your graduation. It's not a very long time. The school system near Bobby has their graduation ceremonies in early June; we're cutting it pretty close."

Sam was trailing after him. "You'll be there, won't you?"

Dean looked at his brother with a promise on his face, "Nothing will stop me."

"Bobby knows I'm coming?"

Dean smiled. "Not yet."

Sam looked nervous at that. He was afraid that he wouldn't be able to go, "Dean…"

Dean stopped again to look at his younger brother. "He already told me to send you to him as soon as I could. It'll be cool."

"When did he say that?"

"The day we left."

The boys continued their walk in silence. Dean was contemplating the two long months until he saw his brother again, and Sam was looking forward to getting away.

**GGSPNGGSPN**

John tried to get his anger under control. He couldn't believe that Dean had made an end run around him. He got up and stormed around the room. Dean knew how he felt about Bobby; the man had pulled a shotgun on him! Dean _knew_ that the only reason Bobby was still alive after that was that John didn't want to shoot him in front of Sam. Just because Bobby knew all kinds of demon lore didn't mean that they had to call him for every little thing.

They would have gotten the answer… eventually… maybe. He stopped pacing and thought further. Alright, calling Bobby was probably a good idea. He was still pissed at Dean, though.

John sighed and picked up his phone. He sat down, waiting for Bobby to pick up the line.

"_Hello?"_

"Bobby." John was rubbing his forehead.

"_John."_

"So Dean told me he called you."

"_He still alive?"_

John scoffed, "Yes." He took a deep breath. "So… what can you tell me about Imps?"

"_I already told Dean."_

"I understand that, but you didn't cover how to get rid of them."

"_I didn't cover that because you can't."_

In his agitation, John got up again and started shouting. "What the hell? What do you mean we can't get rid of it?"

Bobby was shouting back, _"Hey! John! They're already gone. They did their thing and left!"_

"What?"

"_Imps are sent topside to perform an act of evil. When they're done, they go back. Lore says when they come back topside again, they're full-on demons."_

"Shit!" John sat down. "Well that just opens up a whole new set of questions. Does this have anything to do with the fact that Sam and the kid are identical?"

"_What do you mean? Sam and the kid look alike?"_

"Not just look alike, they are identical right down to what Dean calls their bitch faces."

"_You tested him?"_

"The three basics; he passed them all."

"_That's weird."_ Bobby was quiet for a moment while he thought about that. _"I'll have to look around some more. There may just be a coincidence working here."_

"You know how I feel about coincidence."

"_Yeah, I do and I agree. I'll look around and call you back if I find anything."_

"Meanwhile I need to tell these people something. Will these Imp things come back?"

"_I don't know."_ Bobby paused, _"Dean said the girl was pregnant."_

"Yeah, why?"

"_It's possible they'll come back when the girl gives birth or sometime afterward. The books say the 6__th__ month mark is a sort of magic time when babies are most vulnerable._ He paused for a moment,_ "No matter what happened between us, John, I was gonna tell you that."_

"Shit!" John repeated; he filed away the information. He was starting to work on a new theory about that night nearly 18 years ago and this fit. "Is there anything we can do to protect them from that?"

_I've got some charms they can wear to protect against possession and some sigils they can put up to ward against demons. I'll overnight them to you. You'll have them tomorrow."_

"Alright, thanks." John sighed, and then he changed the subject. "Listen, Dean asked me something."

"_What?"_

"He wants me to send Sam to you for the rest of the school year."

Eagerly Bobby answered, _"Get him here and I'll take care of it."_

"You already knew?" John was angry again, "Did you talk to Dean behind my back?"

"_No."_ Bobby didn't say anything more. He didn't want to rile John up and screw this up for Sam.

"Whatever." John paused. "I think, since you helped us out so nicely, we'll have Sam there in two to three days."

"_Good enough."_

"Goodbye."

"_Yeah"_

John hung up the phone and waited for his boys to get back. They had a lot to discuss. While he waited, he pulled out his other notebook. The one he'd been keeping about his newest theory concerning the night Mary died. The one he didn't want Sam or Dean to see.

**GGSPNGGSPN**

A couple of hours later, he called and arranged to meet the Gilmore's and the Forester's at Lorelai's house the next afternoon. Sam and Dean Forester were attracting too much attention at the inn.


	16. Chapter 15

Lorelai and Rory had only been really angry at each other a hand-full of times. This time was different. Lorelai had migrated to being more disappointed than angry at her daughter and Rory was unable to think of a way to fix it.

They hadn't spoken much to each other, but both were aware that they had to iron out their problems. They had spent the morning cleaning the house and were sitting down for lunch. Lorelai had run to the market earlier that morning and gotten some fruit for Rory.

They sat down in the kitchen and tried to eat without looking at each other. Finally, Lorelai broke the silence. Quietly she said, "I meant what I said yesterday about your first time being taken from you."

Rory looked at her, and then looked down again. "I remember it. It may not have been _my_ Dean, but they were trying not to leave bruises or other evidence, so I know it could have been much worse."

Lorelai's eyes were swimming with tears, "I know it hurt."

"Not really…" She closed her eyes, "it was just for a moment when he entered me. Then really it was just some soreness." Quietly she added, "You know, if you hadn't been so candid when you told me about sex, I probably wouldn't have known what had happened."

"I was trying to be open and honest about everything."

Rory nodded.

Lorelai cleared her throat and continued, "When you're ready to be with someone… when the choice is _yours_… this will be in your head, but it shouldn't be. I'm not saying you can or should forget it; I doubt that you can, but try not to let it matter much. The next time will be with someone you genuinely love and who loves you. Then it will be special and you should count that as your first time. This… this was something else."

Rory nodded again. There was nothing she could say.

For awhile, they ate in silence, but the rest had to be gotten out.

Rory decided to begin, "Mom," she began nervously, "I know you're angry with me about what I did."

"I'm more disappointed than angry…"

Rory nodded. "I deserve that."

Lorelai just looked at her.

"I remember that morning more clearly now; the things that were going through my head as I ran home... I didn't remember what had happened the night before, but I did have impressions. 'We had sex', 'Dean didn't attack me', 'Whatever happened, I cooperated', 'Dean's not at fault', 'How do I tell my mom?', 'What will people say and think?' And then I got here and overheard your argument with Grandma…"

Lorelai interrupted, "That argument was between me and Mom and had nothing to do with you… it was just an old unfinished argument brought into present day."

"It had _everything_ to do with what happened and how I reacted."

"What do you mean?"

"I heard her tell you that I would run around, get pregnant, that you were no better as a parent than she was… that I would disappoint you." She swallowed, "then she left and you were so mad at me, telling me I was going on the pill… I couldn't let Grandma be right. I was also worried that you would blame Dean; I couldn't let him be blamed by you or anyone. It wouldn't have been fair; I didn't fight. I know how people feel about me; I knew Dean would have been roasted. I thought, it's better if I'm blamed and not him. So I told you nothing happened and I prayed it was true." Rory was crying and trying to stop. She was sick of the tears.

Lorelai got up and came around to Rory's side. She pulled her daughter into her arms and just held her. "It'll be okay."

"No, it won't! I lied to you and now I'm 16 and pregnant. You'll never trust me again, not really. It won't ever be okay."

Lorelai smiled a little, "Rory, you've always been harder on yourself than I could ever be." She pulled away from the hug to look at her daughter and smiled. "It'll be okay. We can rebuild the trust...we have the technology... it'll be better than it was before; better, stronger, faster…"

Rory groaned, "Mom!"

**GGSPNGGSPN**

Since there were so many people in the living room of Lorelai's house, Dean, Rory, Sam and Dean were all sitting on the stairs. John stood in front of the fireplace. Lorelai made coffee and put out some snacks she had gotten earlier. Everyone was drinking the coffee except for Rory, which irritated her.

"We think we have an idea of what it was that attacked the kids. Unfortunately, while we don't know why, we do have a theory."

Everyone was watching him, so John cleared his throat. "We don't know a huge amount about demons, but there are accounts; some of which date back to earliest written history. We have a demon expert and Dean took the initiative and called him. It was he who gave us the most probable answer… He paused for a moment and took a sip of coffee. "We think the kids were attacked by a couple of Imps."

Nobody said anything, but Dean and Rory clasped hands.

John paused again, and then continued, "Imps are, for want of a better term, apprentices. They are learning their craft, so to speak. They are sent to the surface and told to perform some act of evil. When they are done, they go back to Hell and eventually become full-on demons."

Barbara and Randy were acutely aware that this man was being serious, but they couldn't wrap their heads around the fact that demons, imps and supposedly other evil actually existed. Barbara spoke first, "No." She shook her head. "I can't believe that. I won't."

John nodded, looked at her sadly and said, "I can understand that. It was hard for me at first, too; but I couldn't ignore the evidence that something evil entered my home and killed my wife."

Randy was looking at John, "But why? Does this have anything to do with the fact that our sons look identical?"

John didn't want to fully answer that question as it went toward his new theory and he didn't want to tip off his boys. So he equivocated, "I asked Bobby, our expert, that. He hadn't been given that bit of information initially, but he and I agree that there are no coincidences."

Dean looked down at that. He had ignored a clue and hadn't realized it. John looked irritated about it, but Sam put his hand on his brother's shoulder. He hadn't really thought it was pertinent, either.

John continued, "We have to assume it was a factor, but we may never know."

Lorelai looked upset by that. "This is grim. We'll never know why or get back at them?"

"We think we know why - at least this is a part of a theory."

Dean and Rory both spoke up at that, in unison, they asked, "Why?"

John looked at them, they may have been just kids, but they had the right to know. "We think they wanted you to get pregnant. They wiped your memories, manipulated your body, Rory, and they were careful not to leave much evidence they were even there; all in an effort to get the pregnancy past the point of no return."

Rory started to get panicky. "Angelina said this baby was human! It wasn't Damien. Why would they want this baby to be born?" Dean lowered himself to the step above her and wrapped his arms around Rory, both for her sake and for his own.

"Again, we don't know. We think that the demon that sent them has an agenda. I bet there are other girls out there that are reeling from the knowledge they are pregnant and don't remember why. They all probably think they were slipped some form of date rape drug, which was _your_ initial assumption." He added, "It's possible, you were never meant to remember, but somehow, you remembered the most important clue. Plus, you had a friend who was willing to look in all the weird places."

At the mention of Lane, Rory looked sad. She hadn't tried to call her friend and Lane hadn't called her. Lorelai glanced up at her daughter and vowed to make that better again…

At that moment, there was a knock at the door. Lorelai moved to answer it. When she opened the door, she saw the girl they were talking about.

Lane stepped into the house around Lorelai, "I sneaked out of the house. _Please_ don't call my mother! The battle is on-going and I don't want to give her any more ammunition just yet."

Lorelai just pulled her into a hug. "She needs you." Lane knew she was talking about Rory, "I won't call your mom, but if she calls here, I'll have to tell her."

Lane nodded and went into the living room. Judging by the cars in front of the house, she knew everyone was here. That didn't stop her from blushing when she realized everyone was staring at her, though. So she just looked around for her friend.

She had heard the talk about Sam Winchester, but seeing it for herself was still very surprising. She just stared between him and Dean Forester for a few seconds. Everyone else was used to the reaction, so they let her have a moment.

Lane shook herself and moved over to the boys on the lower steps, "Hi, I'm Lane."

Dean smiled at her. "Dean" And then with his thumb he pointed to his brother. "Sam". Then he pointed to his dad and Lane turned around. "That's our dad, John Winchester."

Lane turned to look at him and held out her hand to shake. "Hello."

John smiled at her as he shook her hand. "You have good instincts."

Lane blushed again, "Thanks." She turned again and sidled past Dean and then Sam on the stairs and suddenly she was being fiercely hugged by Rory.

At Lane's appearance, Rory started to cry and Dean was hugging her, but when Lane started up the stairs both Dean and Rory stood up and waited. Dean waited a moment and then guided the girls the rest of the way up the stairs and into Lorelai's room. He left them and rejoined everyone else downstairs.

Rory stopped crying as they were guided into the bedroom. She had to tell Lane the truth and knew it would end their friendship. She waited until Dean left. She took a deep breath, "I don't want you to fight with your mother. We'll be friends again after you're out of the house…"

"Why?" Lane looked hurt, but wondered why more.

Rory couldn't look at her, "I lied."

"What did you lie about?"

Rory got up and moved around the room, "I knew what had happened."

Lane still didn't know what Rory was talking about, "What do you mean?"

"I mean a girl knows."

Lane was trying not to be dense, but she had only a basic knowledge of sex, so she looked at Rory with a blank expression on her face.

"That morning, when we woke up in the studio; I knew Dean and I had had sex. I just couldn't remember what exactly happened."

Lane's face cleared up and she nodded, "Okay. You lied about nothing happening."

Rory still couldn't look at her. "Yeah"

"To protect Dean," It wasn't a question, but a statement.

Rory looked up at that in surprise. "Yeah"

Lane nodded, "Okay, well my mom doesn't need to know that. Are we still going with the 'date-rape drug' scenario for everyone not in this house?"

"Yeah"

Lane moved over toward her friend, "Okay, now why didn't you call me to explain? You could have figured out a way."

Rory had a surprised look on her face, "You aren't mad?"

"No, you had a good reason; you needed to protect Dean. I've lived in this town as long as you have. I know how things work. Dean just moved here. He's practically a stranger. _Everyone_ would have blamed him, no matter what. And considering how protective of you Lorelai is, she would have been way worse."

Rory couldn't speak; she just nodded.

"Meanwhile, what do you mean 'we can be friends again later'? We're friends now." She hugged Rory. "It'll be fine, you'll see."

**GGSPNGGSPN**

Downstairs, the others were aware there was little else for John to tell them, so everyone was getting ready to leave. Barbara was already at the door with her son behind her; she looked around and spotted Randy talking quietly with John. She looked at her son and nodded her head that they should leave. Randy would tell her what they talked about if it was important.

John and Randy were talking about nothing in particular, but John was aware that Randy had some questions for him in private. He gestured to his sons to go ahead and leave; he threw the keys to Dean. Lorelai had picked up all of the coffee cups from around the room and taken them on a tray into the kitchen. She knew she needed to give the men a few moments.

"What did you tell your sons when they found out about… all this? I have two daughters… I need to warn them or prepare them."

John sighed, he'd answered these questions before and it was never easy, "Sam was six months old when his mother died. I didn't tell him until he guessed when he was about eight. Dean, I think, has known since he was four. He witnessed it; his mother's death. He was too old to forget and too young to understand. I tried to explain it to him in a way he _could_ understand, but I never found the words. He figured it out on his own."

He sat on the couch and looked up at the other man, "Your little daughter, Clara, is what? About 10?"

Randy nodded.

"She doesn't need to know. Not yet. I have some sigils you could put in her room that will help ward against evil beings. You can use salt and iron as well."

"Salt?" Randy interrupted. He sat down in the chair across from John.

"Salt is an elemental thing, it's pure, of the earth. Most supernatural beings can't get past it. Iron is the same. Line the windows in their rooms with salt."

Randy nodded.

John reached into his shirt pocket for the charms Bobby had sent overnight mail.

"This is a charm that Dean should wear from now on. I have one for Rory, too. It'll ward against possession. He needs to wear it at all times. If he looses it, his protection is gone."

"This is a pentagram." Randy looked troubled by the symbol.

"I know. What people don't know is the pentagram was a powerful early Christian symbol used as protection _against_ evil. The idiots who are into devil worship don't understand that this very symbol protects against the evil they wish to attract.

John rubbed his chin and smiled, "Look, put it on a chain and have him wear it at all times. Better yet, tattoo it on his… well somewhere."

Randy smiled back, "Barbara would kill me if I marked up her baby's hide, but a tattoo... it's a good idea."

He got up and tucked the charm into his pocket. He put out his hand and they shook. As he was getting his jacket, John stopped him.

"I didn't want to mention this in front of your wife or the kids… I'll be back in about five months when the baby is born. I'll help put up further protection sigils in the best places to protect him. You need to let me know when Rory goes into labour."

On that chilling note, Randy nodded and left the house.

**AN: This is probably the hardest chapter I've had to write for this story. I hope it was okay… Thanks, Sali.**


	17. Chapter 16

John was sitting in the living room waiting to talk to Lorelai about the charm and about other things when Lane came down the stairs. She looked at the man and he gestured toward the kitchen. Lane nodded and headed that way.

Lorelai was standing at the sink washing the cups and straightening up when Lane came in. "Rory fell asleep… we were in the middle of a conversation and she just - fell asleep."

Lorelai looked at the clock on the stove and smiled. "Like clockwork…"

"What do you mean?"

"It's been happening for the last week or so. You're in school and she and Dean take a walk after lunch. They get home and work on their school lessons and then right around 2:35, Rory falls asleep."

Lane laughed a little at that. "She likes her schedules."

Lorelai nodded. "She fell asleep here at the table once and Dean had to carry her into her room. She never woke up. She sleeps about an hour and then she wakes up starving."

Lane was still grinning, "Well, she could always eat."

"Yeah" Lorelai took a deep breath and sighed. "You have to go on home, now, but… I'll be coming by to have a word with your mother soon. I have to decide exactly what I'm going to say to her."

Lane just nodded.

Lorelai leaned in and whispered, "She scares me a little."

Grimly, Lane nodded again. "She scares a lot of people."

"I won't have her blame Rory, _or_ Dean for that matter. She can't treat my daughter that way."

"I've tried to talk to her, but she won't listen to me." Lane's eyes were welling with tears.

"I know." Lorelai hugged Lane, "You're a great friend for Rory, but stop the battle for awhile and let me see what I can do. Neither of us wants you to damage your relationship with her."

"It was damaged the minute she blamed Rory. She heard the story. I've been practically screaming it at her."

Lorelai nodded and looked at Lane. "I know she just wants to protect you, so try to go easy on her. Maybe she's scared. Maybe she realizes that she can't always protect you and she's lashing out." Lorelai put her hands on Lane's shoulders, her smile was fierce, "She doesn't get to lash out at my daughter, though."

Lane nodded, "See you soon, I hope."

Lorelai walked her to the front door. "Good luck getting back in the house and I'll see you soon."

After Lane left, Lorelai moved into the living room. She had been aware that John was still there. She knew he had heard the conversation between them and she could see that he was angry.

"Lane's mother blames Rory?"

Lorelai nodded, "It's why Lane had to sneak out of the house earlier. A lot of people blame Dean, but there are a few that blame her. Small towns; it's to be expected… Mrs. Kim has never really approved of me or Rory, though, so this isn't much of a surprise."

Not wanting to talk any more about Mrs. Kim, Lorelai moved back into the kitchen; recognizing that, John followed.

"I have something for Rory."

Lorelai turned around smiling. "She'll be up in about 45 minutes. You can give it to her then."

"I don't think I'll be here then. The boys are at the inn getting our stuff and checking out. They'll be back to pick me up in a bit."

"Oh. You're leaving?" Lorelai realized that she felt disappointment for missing an opportunity.

"There's nothing more I can do here. I regret that we can't give you and the kids some payback."

Lorelai nodded with a frown. She sighed, "What do you have for Rory?"

John gave her the small charm.

Lorelai examined the tiny charm, "It's a pentagram."

"It's an early Christian protection amulet; it's powerful."

"What's it for?"

"It'll protect her from possession." He pulled some papers from the inside pocket of his coat. "These are some protection symbols that you can put up in her room; above her bed, by the windows, the front door. You can hide them; they don't have to be in plain sight."

He turned and looked around the kitchen. "Do you have salt? A canister?"

Lorelai moved to the cabinet and pulled down the canister of salt and handed it to him.

He pointed to the door behind him, "Is that her room?"

When she nodded, he moved over and opened the door. Looking in, he noticed there was only one window and he walked over to it. Lorelai stood in the doorway and watched him.

He turned and looked at her. As he poured the salt, he explained, "Pour a heavy line of salt on the window sill. Make sure it covers the break between the window and the sill. Very few things can cross that."

"Should I line all of the windows in the house?"

John nodded. "I told Randy already. Salt is of the earth, pure; most supernatural evil can't cross it. Iron is similar." He walked over to her, but she didn't back up. He stood in front of her and continued, "She needs to wear the charm always. It's small, but it is powerful. If she looses it, her protection is gone."

Lorelai just looked up at him with a sad face.

John looked at her and didn't say anything more. He put his hand on her jaw and then he leaned down and tenderly kissed her.

When the kiss was over, John straightened up, "I'll be back in a few months. I told Randy to let me know when Rory has her baby. I'll come and set up some safe areas for him."

Lorelai moved out of the way and he moved toward the front door; she followed. He had heard the car and knew that the boys were there. As he opened the door, he turned around and gently smiled at her, "I wanted that kiss from the first moment I saw you." He turned and walked out the door.

**AN: For the life of me, I can't remember whether Rory's room has two windows or one. It's small, so I opted for one. Anyway, the epilogue follows tomorrow. Thanks, Sali.**


	18. Epilogues I and II

**AN****1****: I decided to write two epilogues; one for the Gilmore Girls part of the story and one for the Supernatural part.**

**Epilogue I - ****April 2008**

Richard and Emily Gilmore were in their sitting room. The silence was loud. They hadn't spoken much to each other in many years.

The doorbell rang and their maid, one of the many dozens they'd had over the years, went to answer it. A few moments later, she returned.

"A Mrs. Forester would like a word."

Neither Richard nor Emily knew a Mrs. Forester, but they were bored and Emily nodded to let the maid know they would receive her.

A moment later, a young woman, about 6 months pregnant, entered the room. They recognized her immediately.

"I told the anonymous maid my married name because I really wanted to see you." Rory began. "I wanted to bring you up to date on my life and mom's. She knows I'm here, by the way; she warned me not to be disappointed."

Neither Gilmore spoke. They didn't kick her out though, so she continued.

"I had a little boy. His name is Rand, short for Randall. His middle name is Richard. Mom was okay with that. She said it was a nice thing to do. He's six and in Kindergarten. They are already talking about putting him in the gifted studies class at school. He announced last week that he was going to Yale, like his mom. He's absolutely beautiful, talented, strong and tall, like his dad.

"I finished at Chilton because Headmaster Charleston arranged a scholarship for me. I discovered later that his wife funded it." She looked at Emily, "I understand she was your very good friend. I found out why she did it just before she died: when she was just 15 years old, she suffered a horrific attack that left her unable to have children of her own. She made due with her husband's students and occasionally she would help one if it was needed; the way I needed it.

Emily spoke for the first time. "I didn't know." She'd always wondered why Biddy Charleston had ended their friendship.

"No, I don't think she would have wanted that bandied about at the club... Anyway, after I graduated, I was accepted to Harvard, Yale and Princeton, but I decided on Yale. It was closer to Stars Hollow, but that wasn't the only reason." She cleared her throat, "You see, I'd had a grandpa for a little while and I loved him and it was _his_ alma mater…

Richard looked away at that, shame was starting to appear on his face.

"Anyway, I graduated last year; I work as a freelance writer for the New Yorker, now. I cover small towns and big politics."

"Mom and I paid for Yale with loans, scholarships and grants, but when my dad's grandfather died, he inherited money and offered to pay for everything. Dad was never around much, I don't think he could handle it, but he offered and I accepted.

"I didn't get to live in the dorms because I had a small child at home, but I didn't care. I had the world waiting for me everyday. Mom, Dean, Luke, Sookie, Lane and Dean's parents and sister, all helped me take care of him those first years. He has charm, wit, smarts, he wears his cap backwards on his head like his grandpa does, he can already use tools like his dad, he's funny like his grandma; and you never got to meet him."

She paused and cleared her throat again before continuing, "Anyway, Mom married a local business man named Luke Danes; she still goes by Gilmore, though. They have two kids: my sister is Emily Elizabeth Danes and my brother is William Lucas Danes; we call them Bess and Will. They're twins; Mom had a little trouble getting pregnant… They'll be a year old soon."

At the news that they had more grandchildren, Emily closed her eyes and bent her head, but she didn't say anything. The idea that her daughter had named a child after her even after everything that had happened was devastating.

Rory paused for a moment, waiting for Emily to absorb that news, "About a year after Rand was born, Mom and Sookie bought their own inn. With Luke's help, they restored it and opened for business. It's been very successful. They're booked solid nearly every weekend." Rory looked at Richard, "She used the money you sent her through that agent."

"As you can tell from my name, I got married; about seven months ago. I married Rand's father. Dean and I have weathered several problems, including his brief marriage to another girl, but we kept circling back to each other. We decided that being together made us happier that we ever could be apart." She put a hand on her belly. "Now we get to have a baby on _our_ terms, but we won't love this one any more or less than we love the first one."

"Dean bought a local car repair shop a couple of years ago. It's very successful and he recently bought another small repair shop in Canaan. He repairs cars, but he also restores old, vintage models. A friend of his helps manage that part of the business."

Rory was looking back and forth between her grandparents. A little angrily she continued, "Mom never told me what you said to her that last day when she told you what happened to me and Dean. I can imagine, though. You tried in vain to control Mom, and you hated it when she left. Next, you tried with me, but couldn't forgive the 'mistake' you thought I'd made and you blamed her for it.

Rory started to speak faster, "I'll tell you again what she told you then. Dean and I ingested an unknown substance which caused us to act outside of our normal behaviour. Nine months later, Rand was born. No one ever discovered what the substance was and no one was ever caught and punished. Dean and I have to live with that every day."

She was starting to feel tears in her eyes, but wasn't about to shed them in front of these people, "I can't regret anything that happened, though, because I have them; my husband and my child, my mom and step-dad, my little sister and brother, my friends, my community and a new baby. Oh, I have a step-sister, too! I will love and cherish them forever.

"Do _you_ have any regrets?" She turned to leave, but paused in the doorway. Quietly she continued, "If you do, there's a party in Stars Hollow next Saturday to celebrate Mom's and my friend Lane's twin's birthdays. It'll be in the town square. You're welcome to come. It starts at 1 o'clock."

She left the room silently and the Gilmores were left with the knowledge that they had been given one last chance.

**Epilogue II - ****October 2008**

Sam and Dean were driving away from Carthage, Missouri after Sam killed the rugaru called Jack Montgomery. Sam was sitting in his usual place on the passenger side of the car, staring out at the darkness.

Dean looked over at him. "You did the right thing, you know. That guy was a monster, there was no going back."

Sam just looked down.

"Sam, I wanna tell you I'm sorry. I've been kind of hard on you lately."

Sam returned to looking out the window. "Don't worry about it, Dean."

"It's just that your, uh, your psychic thing, it scares the crap out of me."

Sam glanced over at his brother, "Look, if it's all the same... I'd really rather not talk about it."

Dean looked at him with a small smile. "Wait a minute. What? You don't want to talk? You?"

Without responding to the small attempt at humour, Sam answered, "There's nothing more to say. I can't keep explaining myself to you. I can't make you understand."

Frustrated, Dean asked, "Why don't you try?"

"I _can't_. Because this thing, this blood, it's not in you the way it's in me. It's just something I got to deal with."

"Not alone."

Sam sighed, "Anyway, it doesn't matter. These powers... it's playing with fire. I'm done with them. I'm done with everything."

Dean looked over at him. "Really?" Sam continued to look out his window and Dean turned back to the road. "Well, that's a relief. Thank you."

Sam turned around to him and scoffed. "Don't thank me. I'm not doing it for you. Or for the angels or for anybody. This is my choice." He returned again to looking out the window.

For a few minutes, they continued in silence. Sam was contemplating everything he had learned about what had happened to him when he was 6 months old; and what it meant to him now. He considered his encounters with Yellow Eyes and then suddenly, he remembered an off-hand remark the demon had made in his dream back in Cold Oak… and he remembered something else.

"Oh, Holy Hell! Dean!" Sam turned frantic eyes to his brother, "We have to go back to Stars Hollow!"

**Did anyone else hear that? A strange 'metal teeth chomping****' sound? Yeah, that's**

**T****he End**

(Don't freak out, a completed sequel follows. Look for "Bridge" in a couple of days.)

**AN****2****: The dialogue between Sam and Dean is taken verbatim from the transcript of the Supernatural Season 4.04 episode "Metamorphosis". It was copied from the Supernatural Wiki website. The episode was writen by ****Cathryn Humphris and directed by Kim Manners.**** It's original airdate was 9 October 2008. It's adjusted to look like story dialogue rather than a scripted scene. Only the last two paragraphs are mine.**

**http**** :/ www (dot) supernaturalwiki (dot) com / index (dot) php ? title = 4.04 _ Metamorphosis**

**For anyone who can't remember any off-hand remark made by Y.E.D., please either watch the episode, if you have the DVDs or go to the above mentioned website, search Season 2 and read the transcript for "All Hell Breaks Loose, Part 1". That simple comment was the main source of inspiration for this story. Well, that, plus I was in the midst of a Gilmore Girls Season One DVD marathon. Thanks, Sali.**


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